(This is a repost from 9News in Colorado. The story is 2 years old, but I wanted to have a copy here since the article has been removed from their site.)
BOULDER - All 11-year-old Elijah wanted was a bike built for him so he could go on a bike ride with his parents. You could even call it a dream of his.
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Cerebral palsy, a vision condition called Ocular Motor Apraxia and autism have made that dream ever so difficult to realize. Elijah has trouble with his balance, which prevents him from riding a "big kids bike."
Instead, he's stuck with training wheels and a bike too small for a growing boy.
"He kind of gave up on bike riding altogether," said Paul Spielman, Elijah's father. "We spent hours of trying to do it and make it work by finding a bike just for Elijah, and then finally coming to the realization that it's not going to happen... it was so frustration with everyone involved."
Elijah's health and his disability have kept him from hanging out with his friends and his sister, Delaney, who all enjoy riding their bikes around the cul-de-sac.
After literally months of research and calling around, Elijah's mom, Sue, turned to a community that is best known as a biker's heaven. She found Community Cycles, a non-profit based in Boulder, Colorado.
"I just can't imagine what that would be like to not have a bike," said Josh Brown, development director of Community Cycles. "There's never been a time in my life when I haven't had a bike. The thought of that happening, particularly for a kid, just breaks my heart."
Brown used his bicycle network of friends and volunteers at Community Cycles to find Del Kreiser, an artist in the Boulder area who could build a bike with stability wheels for Elijah.
Most of Kreiser's art projects use old, discarded bike parts taken out of the trash can or junk yard. Kreiser learned to weld three years ago, and spare bike parts became his paintbrush and canvas.
Finding a recipient for the bike part benches and windmills was another challenge altogether, and the opportunity to make something useful for someone else was something Del had been waiting for.
"The challenge is to make something functional that looks cool, hopefully," said Kreiser, who spent several works crafting a stabilizer wheel system for Elijah's bike.
After several weeks of working with Elijah at Community Cycles' "Earn a Bike" program, Kreiser had finally made all the finishing touches to ensure the bike would work for Elijah.
When he delivered the stabilizer wheel big kids to Elijah's parents, who surprised Elijah with it one late August night, Elijah's eyes lit up.
"You didn't tell me you had it already!" said Elijah, who had been waiting for several days without any answer about when the bike would arrive.
Then, Elijah snapped on his helmet, hopped on his bike and cruised down his cul-de-sac for the first time as a big kid.
"The first day for him to ride a bike by himself... it's pretty cool," said Sue Spielman. "To see him be able to go up and down the street without any problems... it's just awesome."
For more information about Del Kreiser and his bike art, click onto: http://www.burnworks.org
To learn more about Community Cycles and its "Earn a Bike" program, click onto: http://www.communitycycles.org/
