The fun began at a bright-pink starting gate.
It continued as University Park Elementary’s bikers pedaled past bubbles, around obstacles, through a tunnel and homemade car wash, and over speed bumps, bubble wrap, and a challenging ramp.
“It’s pretty scary. It feels like you’re going to fall off, but you don’t,” third-grader Brandon Zhao said about the ramp. “I’m not afraid of jumps anymore.”
“It was pretty intense,” added third-grader AJ Piller.
The course may have been new to Panthers, but the annual Bike Rodeo, which this year was held on Sept. 4, has been rolling through University Park Elementary for decades.
Principal Kim Banuelos, who donned her own helmet and joined students on the course, remembered participating in Bike Rodeo when she was a student at University Park Elementary in the 1970s.
“It was one of my favorite days,” she said. “Here we are, doing the same thing on the same road. It’s also a time-honored tradition for families.”
Banuelos said that the event has grown since her childhood. This year’s rodeo began with stunts from the BMX Pros Trick Team, whose riders even jumped over brave members of the Dads Club.
But the rodeo, which was sponsored by Medical City Children’s Hospital, had the same focus on safety that Banuelos recalled from her days as a student.
BMX team members shared helpful tips and talked with students about the importance of wearing a helmet and checking their bikes, messages that were reemphasized later by Daniela Hudson, who instructs fledgling bikers at Glide 2 Ride.
“It’s kind of a funny juxtaposition between guys doing crazy tricks and learning safety,” said Mary Claire Perry, who co-chaired the Bike Rodeo with Shelby Comeaux, Melissa Johnston, and Jordan Patman. “But it captures their attention and gets them excited, so then they actually listen.”
University Park Elementary is a community of bike riders —more than 200 bikes are parked at the campus daily, Banuelos said.
Panther parents praised the focus on safety, as well as the rodeo’s role in building students’ confidence and sense of school community.
It was an upcoming rodeo that inspired her daughter to learn to ride without training wheels, Bonnie Yates said. The third grader is a confident biker today, pedaling to friends’ houses and even the Holmes Aquatic Center. She stopped and gave her two-year-old brother a high five as she passed him on the Bike Rodeo route.
“It’s fun to bring everybody together,” Yates said. “Everybody cheers on everybody’s kids and gives them some confidence.”
Natalie Hanschen, the mother of two University Park Elementary students, said that the area’s safety and neighborhood feel, including the ability to bike to school, drew her family to the Park Cities.
“I wanted my kids to have the childhood that I wish I had,” she said. “Here, they certainly can. All of this is a dream come true.”
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