Trips for Kids Denver News: November, 2009

Featured Article: Rob Sears Remembered

by Andrew Goodwillie

My wife will agree with a knowing smirk, my brain is wired for concrete concepts and analytical decision-making.  I usually dismiss examples of fate, karma, or divine will as mere examples of coincidence or the wishful thinking of the self-deceiving, cherry picking convenient, unrelated occurrences from our random, disjoined universe.   Yes, I find it an amusing coincidence that TFKD happens to be one perfect example of the star-aligning, cosmic karma that I flatly disavow.  Right out of the blocks of the TFKD revival process and continuing in almost rhythmic waves of benevolence this year, people with just the right resources have found TFKD at just the perfect moment.  Ding, RE:  “I found your web site, disaster averted. “  “I’d like to introduce myself; I’m Problem H. Solved. “  Ring, Ring: “Hello. Yes, Mr. Door-of-new-possibilities, I can meet today. “ Leading TFKD has been all too easy thanks to the omnipotent angels in the sky. 

I’m not sure what I was thinking, but that first summer I started booking rides, before I had enough bikes or a way to transport more than four bikes.  Ok, there’s a ride tomorrow….no truck. No volunteer. Hey angels, cue the savoir. 

Enter Rob Sears, super-nice guy with a pick-up truck. 

In the summer of 2004, Rob had just retired as a professional downhill mountain bike racer and was grappling with that big life question: What next?  He told me he was on a “quest to use the bike as a tool to help children overcome difficulties in their lives.” He became a regular ride volunteer during our first summer of operation, enabling rides to happen by making the trek down from Wondervu a few times a week to transport bikes in his old pickup.  He was a natural working with the kids, treating them with remarkable kindness, sincerity, and respect. His fun-loving personality, combined with his passion for and skills on the bike, energized each ride he joined.  I had to tell him on several outings to refrain from doing wheelies…onto giant boulders or over retaining walls in the parking lot.  The kids where getting that look in their eyes that said, “Hmmm, I could do that, maybe.”  

By mid-summer Rob’s “What next?” was plainly answered by the realities of life: “Get a job.”  His virtuous, volunteerism with TFKD had to end, as a practical matter, but it inspired Rob to apply for positions at some of our youth agency partners.  Rob asked me to write a recommendation letter. Here’s an excerpt:

“Rob made his biggest contribution interacting with the children as a dedicated ride volunteer.  The children responded positively to his honest, kind, genuine personality. Rob’s patience and tact in this role salvaged a trip with a troop of boys from a group home.  One of the boys quickly became frustrated and upset because he couldn’t shift gears and sat down, teary-eyed, in the middle of the trail.  Rob let him cool-off for a few minutes, convinced him to try again, and successfully coached the boy the rest of the morning on shifting technique.  Despite the morning meltdown and because of Rob’s encouragement, the boy ended up having a fun day.  He later shared with the group in our closing circle that he was glad he didn’t give up, and he was having a bad day because his adult mentor hadn’t shown up at the home the day before.”  

Rob made a difference that day in the life of a troubled boy.  It’s a ride, a moment, a little boy’s broad, freckled, smiling face that I’ll always remember like it was yesterday.  There were other moments I shared with Rob or comments he made that summer which made me understand, for the first time, the importance of putting underserved kids on bikes.  He taught me volumes.  
 
It is my understanding that Rob ended up taking a job as a bike tech at Wheat Ridge Cyclery and he then drifted off the TFKD radar for a time.  Rob called me the summer of 2008 and said he wanted to help again.  Trek had issued a recall on a kid’s bike and they had a ton of perfectly useable parts, removed from the defective frames.  We could have them.  Other than hooking us up with the bike parts, Rob expressed with his usual sincerity that he wanted to reinvolve himself with TFKD.  He’d give me a call soon.  

On October 5, 2008 Rob died from melanoma.  The memory of Rob’s life will be painted more completely and in more vibrant hues by friends and family who knew him longer and better than I did.  To me Rob will always be a bright light, a person who did his part to realize his dream of helping children with a tool he loved and knew so well, a bike.  Rob was someone who believed in the power of TFK and did all he could to help establish the program in our community.  Rob was my friend and I’ll never forget the contributions he made, that first golden summer, to lay the foundations of TFKD.
 
Thanks to Gloria Sears, Rob’s lovely mother, who contacted me shortly before the first anniversary of Rob’s passing.  Gloria made a cash and in-kind contribution to TFKD in Rob’s memory and supported the TFKD-COMBA Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day event as an event volunteer, feeding the troops after the fun ride in the sun.  

“I hope to bring kids into the mountains and show them environmental options.  History becomes significant when people need options.  Connections are hard to find with urban distractions and limited examples.” An email from Rob Sears, dated 03/28/04.

The best TFKD photo ever taken, in my opinion.  All the kids are laughing and yelling, “Let’s do it again!” after bumping down the first hill of the day.  Rob, usually the ride “Sweeper", is pictured in the background in the gray t-shirt.