{"id":8802,"date":"2014-05-22T09:33:07","date_gmt":"2014-05-22T13:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=8802"},"modified":"2014-05-22T15:16:03","modified_gmt":"2014-05-22T19:16:03","slug":"wheel-appeal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=8802","title":{"rendered":"Wheel appeal"},"content":{"rendered":"
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At Kerri Martin’s Second Life Bikes, kids from the local community develop strong leadership skills, a work ethic and mechanical know-how along the way to earning their bikes. Photos above and below (c) Dustin Fenstermacher<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was a beautiful Tuesday morning and Kerri Martin, a bank employee on Wall Street, couldn\u2019t wait to spend some of it on her bicycle. She pedaled through Manhattan on her way to work, soaking in the brilliant sunshine and crisp fall air. As she wheeled onto a Hudson River pier, stopping for a minute to admire the cloudless blue sky, a plane caught her eye. That looks low<\/em>, she thought, like it\u2019s going to hit that building<\/em>. Moments later, she watched the plane smash into the World Trade Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike anyone, after September 11, I started to re-evaluate my life,\u201d Martin, a 1994 graduate of the college, says now. Her office temporarily moved from the World Financial Center to Westchester, N.Y. When its Manhattan building reopened the following spring, \u201cI decided not to go,\u201d she says. \u201cI liked my life in New York, but I always knew it wasn\u2019t exactly for me \u2014 I always knew there was something else.\u201d<\/p>\n

She turned to her trusty bicycle for inspiration, first toting it across the country to Colorado, Seattle and Portland, and then landing a job fixing bikes in a Brielle, N.J., shop. In 2006, she started an earn-a-bike program based out of a church\u2019s garage; today, under the name Second Life Bikes, it lives on in a sweeping 7,500-square-foot space in Asbury Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsually the cheapest bike in a bike shop is $500,\u201d Martin says. \u201cI was seeing the need for more affordable repairs and more affordable bikes. I wasn\u2019t sure if this concept could work in a smaller town, but the answer five years later is yes, yes, yes.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Second Life Bikes, cycle repairs run from $2 up and used, refurbished bikes start around $50 for an adult ride and $20 for a child-sized cycle. Kids from the local community grease chains and fix flat tires alongside Martin, and after 15 hours working in the shop, they\u2019ve earned a bike of their own. Martin estimates she\u2019s given away some 800 bikes so far.<\/p>\n

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Martin\u2019s sweeping, 7,500-square-foot bicycle shop has become a community hub in Asbury Park, N.J.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The shop has become a staple in the community, drawing visitors from \u201cevery walk of life, every income bracket, every ethnicity,\u201d Martin says. From bicycle-inspired art shows to parties, parades and cycling trips, \u201cwe are truly a community hub.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also sees her young assistants develop strong leadership skills, a work ethic and mechanical know-how along the way to earning their bikes. \u201cThere are kids who couldn\u2019t look you in the eye on their first day, but now I see them helping customers and telling their friends, \u2018This is where I work,\u2019\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

As for her own love of bikes, Martin admits it has nothing to do with saving gas or burning calories. \u201cPeople always say to me, \u2018You\u2019re such a good environmentalist,\u2019 but that\u2019s not what I think about when I get on my bike,\u201d she says. \u201cBiking never gets boring. It can take you so many different places and it\u2019s a sport you can do your whole life. I just think it\u2019s fun.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kerri Martin is changing the lives of the children in her community\u2014one bike repair at a time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":8804,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-spring-2014"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}