The Howard County
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JULY 2025
Howard cyclist gives bikes to kids
Over the course of a year, FB4K Maryland operates in, shall we say, cycles. Early in the year, volunteers collect bikes, moving them to one of several storage sites. (One site, at the Howard County landfill, collects and stores bikes for FB4K, making it the charity’s largest single provider of bikes). FB4K Maryland gets really rolling, though, later in the year. As autumn approaches, Cochran begins to plan the October-December bike fix-up effort and the early December distribution. Every October, the group asks Howard residents to
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By Ed Warner Ted Cochran of Columbia loves cycling — he’s biked 90 percent of all the rideable roads and trails in Howard County, by his estimation. He also helps thousands of Maryland children discover the joy of cycling. The organization he founded seven years ago, Free Bikes 4 Kidz (FB4K) Maryland, annually refurbishes thousands of bicycles, gifting them to low-income schoolchildren, kids whose families might not have been able to afford a bike or might never have thought of cycling for pleasure or transportation. So far the group has given away about 12,000 bikes. Last year alone, it gave away more than 3,000. Most of its bikes were donations, but about a third of last year’s total had been left at the county landfill’s bike recycling location. Howard County is one of the nation’s wealthiest areas, but a quarter of its students are poor enough to qualify for free and reduced-cost meals. A lifelong bicyclist, Cochran doesn’t want those kids to miss their chance to discover the sport. “I really want kids to be able to ride,” he said.
Ted Cochran, who grew up in Columbia, Maryland, launched a nonprofit here that collects, repairs and distributes free bicycles to children.
drop off no-longer-used bikes at their local firehouse. This year that date is Oct. 4. “We can use about every bike we get, even Schwinn Varsities,” noted Cochran, referring to a hallmark 10-speed bike of the 1970s. In fact, the group has received donations of adult trikes, an electric bike or two, and enough unicycles for many circuses. (The unicycles went to the University of Maryland’s juggling club.) Once at the warehouse, volunteers clean and repair the bikes, and then Cochran ver-
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ifies that the job was done correctly. The cost to FB4K of each bike it gives away was in 2024 just $20, and $10 of that is due to the helmet — each child gets a new one. (FB4K doesn’t provide locks because useful ones cost more than $30.) In early December, the group hosts its two giveaway days. That’s when parents bring their kids — who schools, churches, nonprofits and government agencies refer based on need — to receive bikes, often See BIKES FOR KIDS, page 20
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