Bike Program Puts Pupils on Path to Success

School is out for the day and about 60 bike-riding students -- on thin 10-speeds, squat choppers and rugged mountain trailblazers -- circle the concrete schoolyard track of Virgil Middle School west of downtown Los Angeles.

In the middle of the swirl, LAPD Det. Fred Faustino shouts instruction and encouragement to the Rough Riders -- as they call themselves -- who range from 10 to 16 years old.

“Come on, come on, let’s go,” he yells, as he claps his hands. One teetering rider musters a sweat-soaked smile and pushes harder.

Gruffness aside, Faustino is the first to say that the riders he coaches as a Police Athletic League, or PAL, instructor are only literally going in circles. Because every time they get on a bike, he says, they ride toward a shared goal.

At 6 a.m. Sunday, the Rough Riders are due to join 140 other youngsters and 30 officers from eight PAL chapters across the county, strap on helmets and ride in the Acura/L.A. Bike Tour. Organizers expect 15,000 cyclists to ride the 26-mile course -- the same route the L.A. Marathon will take later that day.

The PAL riders, many of whom had never been on a bicycle until last year, have trained for several months. Police supervisors hope their young charges, many from disadvantaged backgrounds, will take away memories of hard work and perseverance that will last long after the grueling event is over.

“Bottom line is we are trying to keep these kids out of there,” Faustino said as he pointed to the busy and sometimes dangerous streets outside the Virgil schoolyard.

The 350-chapter national PAL organization, which has more than 20 chapters in L.A. County, seeks to give urban students a positive experience with law enforcement through after-school activities ranging from basketball and football to dance and drama. Children ages 5 to 18 are mentored by police officers.

The program at Virgil offers one of the more unusual PAL activities in Los Angeles, an after-school curriculum centered around gears and spokes.

Started by the Los Angeles Unified School District Police Department in 1998, along with a twin program at nearby Berendo Middle School, the bike curriculum is staffed by LAPD and L.A. Unified officers from last bell to dusk.

The Rough Riders, which include the Berendo cyclists, learn how to replace a bike chain and change a tire. They are trained on a pylon-dotted obstacle course to hone their agility, and do laps to build endurance. They also are required to attend study hall twice a week for academic tutoring.

Those who distinguish themselves -- academically, socially or athletically -- are awarded a bike of their own. The bicycles, which will be used in the tour this weekend, come from unclaimed-property lockers at police stations and from private donors, said Don Norek, head of the L.A. Unified PAL chapter.

More than 300 bikes have been handed out over the last three years, and the reaction to the reward is almost always the same, school police Officer Norek said.

“Most of the time [the kids] start crying” tears of joy. “Their parents start crying,” he said. “Even if you give the junkiest bike to a kid, it’s something for him to hang onto.”

“It amazes me when I go into Central and South L.A. ... and many of these kids do not have” bicycles, said Tana Ball, executive director of the Youth Educational Sports Foundation, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization.

Since 1996, Ball, a former coach for the U.S. cycling team, has helped local PAL chapters participate in the Bike Tour, gathering application forms and providing some equipment. The Los Angeles County PAL chapters will be joined Sunday by 100 PAL students from throughout California, Ball said, adding that tour organizers have waived the $25 entrance fee for all these riders.

Two of the first PAL programs to follow Ball’s lead were at Virgil and Berendo, where four or five officers work at each site Monday through Friday afternoons.

Unlike many PAL programs nationwide, for which officers volunteer their services, instructors in the six L.A. Unified programs are paid $60 for the first 90 minutes each day and donate the rest of their time.

With his budget dwindling this year from $750,000 to $150,000 as grants have dried up, Norek closed programs at four L.A. Unified campuses and says the future is uncertain elsewhere. To get consistent officer participation, money is needed, he said.

Norek said he will try to keep the Virgil and Berendo programs open, even with a reduced staff. If he were forced to halt the bike programs, the 120 Rough Riders would lose a lot more than their transportation, he said.

The program “gives the kids hope that someone cares about them,” Norek said. “And that they don’t have to stay in [this neighborhood] forever.

“There’s always the misconception that our job is to arrest people and not help them,” Norek added. “The PAL program lets kids know we are regular people.”

Carlos Campos, a 14-year-old Virgil Rough Rider, agrees. Police are normal people “with a big responsibility,” he said.

Gabriel Orozco,13, said his lessons don’t end when he gets off his bike. Officers “check our grades, check how we are doing at home,” he said.

Friendships among the Riders are also close, said 10-year-old Jose Hernandez. “One of us falls, we pick them up,” he said.