On Saturday March 27th Innovative Members and guests attended a 2 hour Spin Class in honor of Nancy Sellars; a former member of Innovative health and Fitness. We lost Nancy in an accident while she was doing one of the things she was most passionate about – cycling. The Spin class tribute was lead by Instructor Ken Edwards and raised $340 towards the Nancy Sellars Memorial Foundation.

Innovative Health and fitness would like to thank the attendees and supporters of this workout. Nancy was involved in many charity events and was a huge supporter of the partnership Innovative had with the Franklin Educational Foundation Annual Walk/Run. Her positive attitude and everlasting smile will be missed but her spirit lives on.

The Nancy Sellars Memorial Foundation was established to keep Nancy’s memory alive and to have impact on causes that were significant to her. The foundation is an unincorporated, non-profit association dedicated to the enhancement of public trails and waterways in southeastern Wisconsin and the promotion of bicycle safety and the rights of cyclists. Most importantly, the foundation works to educate the public on the dangerous and wide-ranging impact of drunk driving. A mistake that takes the life of a friend, spouse, child, co-worker, parent or other loved one is a mistake that can often be prevented. The foundation works to help people recognize the need for the responsible use of alcohol.

The 2010 Bear Trax and Brownie shuffle are set for April 25th. If you did the race last year you will get an application in the mail.

Visit the new race website at www.BearTraxRace.com!

Check out the links below for a 2010 application.

2010 Registration Application (PDF)

Online Registration

When I received a call from a teacher at the Town of Raymond School asking for permission to use Nancy’s name and to Honor her at their Bike Fair I was brought to tears.  Our foundation is always looking for ways to raise awareness that meet goals. This idea was just what we were looking for. The kids wanted to put on a bike safety fair and give a helmet to every kid in the school. I met with a group of kids from the school along with Principal Dr  George Slupski and a real cool teacher Stacy Stock.

We met every week for about 8 weeks and I could not believe the hard work and dedication from these students. They worked so hard planning every aspect of the day. The number of students involved are way to many to mention but I would like to give credit to the main team that I worked with.

Cassie Goodrich 8th grade
Juli Lueneburg 8th Grade
Dylan Sauder 8th grade
Lauren Chars 8th grade
Christian Ryan 7th grade
Rachel Oberg 7th grade
Brandon Mueller 7th grade
Hayden Hendersen 7th grade

The day consisted of different booths set up covering topics related to bike saftey. I look forward to working with the school again in the future.

The pictures page will have many pictures soon as I had over 600 to choose from.

I would like to thank all the board members who helped out as well and special thanks to Eileen, Tom, Heather, Cathy, Rick and Nancy’s Parents Bob and Geri for being there.

 Raymond Elementary School held a student-planned bike fair Friday to honor a cyclist who died last year near the school while at the same time raising awareness about bike safety and plans to build bike paths in the area.

A Bike Federation of Wisconsin official said she had never seen a student-run event as comprehensive as Raymond’s bike fair. Students seemed to enjoy themselves throughout the day, especially at a morning kickoff that included an appearance by the Division BMX Stunt Team from Milwaukee.

In the gymnasium of the school, at 2659 76th St., Raymond Elementary’s 400 kindergartners through eighth-graders sat around a bike ramp, pounding the bleachers, clapping their hands and yelling as loud as they could to bring the bikers out for a performance filled with ground stunts, handstands on bike handlebars and plenty of jumps.

The BMX team also did a stunt where they jumped a bike over three student volunteers laying on the ground.

“It was so cool,” said 9-year-old fourth-grader Connor Kilbourne. “They kept doing those stunts and (rider) J.J. (Flairty) even did a flip!”

Aside from the fun, the event also drove home the seriousness of bike safety with a short talk from Jimi Sellars, husband of cyclist and athlete Nancy Sellars, who was killed in July 2008 after her bike was hit by a drunk driver not far from the school on 5 Mile Road, east of 108th Street.

Nancy Sellars’s death and two other biking-related deaths in the area prompted the Friday event and the school’s push to get bike paths built in Raymond. There are currently no paths but students hope this year to identify potential locations and eventually create the paths with grant money.

“These kids are incredible for their age,” Jimi Sellars said. “When I was their age I was not aware of things in the community.”

Jessica Binder, education manager for the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin, a nonprofit that describes itself as educating and coordinate bicycle interests in the state, said she was equally impressed with the event.

“I’ve worked with 5,000 kids in 20 different communities and I’ve never seen what’s in this room right now,” Binder told students Friday morning before later handing out and fitting free bike helmets for each student.

Binder said she will work with the school to find locations and funding for their bike paths.

Throughout the rest of the school day, students rotated to different classrooms to learn about subjects like road rules, bike history, bike maintenance and cycling injuries.

In one classroom, students were given bike safety pledges to sign, acknowledging they know the rules and will follow them.

Connor said he “definitely” planned to sign the pledge.

“I like riding my bike a lot and my scooter,” he said. “When we grow up and don’t have a car we can know how to ride our bikes.”