BATESVILLE — The ALL RISE Century Bike Ride will return Saturday to raise money for a local program while encouraging cycling in the community.
The eighth annual out-and-back ride, which raises money for the Independence County DWI Court Program, will begin at 8 a.m. at Jubilee Family Church, 45 Thunderbird Drive. The event allows participants to bike up to 100 miles.
Chaney Taylor, Independence County district judge, said the county’s DWI Court Program is designed to help repeat offenders. ALL RISE is a National Association of Drug Court Professionals effort to provide support and treatment for offenders instead of imprisoning them.
“We target hardcore repeat offenders, and the people we accept in the program are second and third DWI offenders,” he said.
The DWI Court Program takes place in four 13-week phases and requires treatment, court appearances, and random and regular drug testing. Independence County currently has 12 members in its program.
The ride will take bikers through Moorefield, Sulphur Rock, Magness, Newark, Cord, Saffell and Strawberry, and end in Jesup. This month is an ideal time to hold the annual bike ride because May is National Bike Riding Month and National Drug Court Month, Taylor said.
“There are various methods used across the country for the program, but we felt [biking] was appropriate,” Taylor said. “A lot of times when people come into our program, they have issues with transportation. We require them to get to court, get to their treatment, get to their testing and all that stuff.”
A few years ago, the program received a grant to purchase three bikes for program members to use for transportation because they’ve lost their driver’s licenses. Bikes are not required for the program.
“We require them to sign a contract saying that they’ll return [the bike]. You’ll see people riding around town on them to get where they need to go,” Taylor said.
Donald Vaulner, probation officer and DWI court case manager, said that if offenders kept repeating, the roads wouldn’t be as safe as they are, and the bicycle ride helps support that.
“We try to strive to change their lives [in order] to change their ways on addiction,” Vaulner said. “We target the addiction and do what we can through support groups, as well as treatment counseling.”
New this year to the bike ride is a 2-mile ride for children. Kids must be accompanied by an adult and will ride 1 mile to the fire station in Moorefield, then back to the starting point. There will be four rest stops, and every participant will receive a T-shirt. Everyone who participates in the ride must wear a helmet.
Taylor said the weather affects the number of bikers who typically show up for the event year after year.
“One year we had less than 10 riders. The most we’ve had is about 40 riders,” he said. “But out of the 40, 18 of them did the full 100 miles. We were tickled with that.”
This year, Taylor hopes to see 30 to 35 people show up. Taylor has participated in the bike ride in the past, but this year, he might volunteer to take on a SAG — support and gear — role, through which he’ll give bicyclists a ride back to the starting point once they’ve biked their desired number of miles, along with providing cyclists water and snacks.
“The most I’ve ridden in any one year [at the event] is 50 miles one year. This year, we don’t have our regular SAG support guy, and I’m in the process of trying to find somebody else,” he said. “One year, I rode it with my daughter, and I only did 25 miles that year.”
The annual ride usually raises between $500 and $1,000.
“We’re trying to grow,” Taylor said. “We’re trying to attract more people so we can be a bigger event.”
Taylor also said the court program welcomes volunteers to help out with the event by handing out water and helping people get back to their vehicles if needed.
“We’re trying to educate people that the program is an accountability program to hold DWI offenders to be accountable for their actions,” he said. “Public safety is our overall goal.”
Registration for the The ALL RISE Century Bike Ride is $20 and will be open until the start of the ride. For more information or to receive a registration form, contact Vaulner at (870) 793-8897 or dlvauln@yahoo.com.
Staff writer Syd Hayman can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or shayman@arkansasonline.com.