HOPKINS, Minn. - Wrinkled hands and calloused fingers clenched the tools, but even the graying men who stood in a warehouse repairing bikes Thanksgiving weekend remember their first.
"It was a banana seat String Ray," says Mark Halvorson of Eden Prairie, "with a sissy bar on the back."
More tales of banana seats, speedometers and candy apple red paint followed from others working diligently nearby.
It only takes one bike to give a kid a life-long memory, so imagine the impact if someone collects more than 5,000 of them.
That someone is Terry Esau. The Orono musician and cyclist launched Free Bikes 4 Kidz four years ago after someone requested from his cycling group a single used bike for a family in need.
"And I started talking to some of my riding buddies and said, 'Every garage has a bike in it that's not being used.'"
Esau and his buddies collected 200 bikes that first Christmas, which were given to families in need of hand.
This year Free Bikes 4 Kidz has grown to more than 2,000 volunteers and what Esau believes is the largest distribution of free bikes in America.
"If you're going to dream you might as well dream big," smiles Esau. "Otherwise it's not a dream, right?"
Most of the collected bikes are used, pulled by their donors from attics and garages across the Twin Cities.
Local companies, including Park Tools and QBP, donated thousands of dollars worth of tools and parts, installed by a small army of volunteer mechanics.
Eight-year-old Finn Swaty ended up on the washing crew when he came from Michigan to visit Minnesota relatives for Thanksgiving. "Someday somebody's going to be riding this one," he says proudly as he wipes dry a bike that had just been pressure washed.
Exactly two weeks later, Christmas came early for thousands of children at two-dozen bike distribution sites in and around the Twin Cities.
Seven-year-old Bianca Gutierrez arrived with her family at Midtown Exchange at Chicago and Lake in Minneapolis, where Esau helped her climb on a bike for the first time in her life.
"She was asking me for a bike before," said her father Rodrigo. "I got to teach her now, so I got homework to do."
Four years after launching Free Bikes 4 Kidz, Esau remains genuinely moved by the experience. "You work for two months and then you start seeing kids on bikes, it's pretty cool."
Each bike is given out with a helmet provided by Allina Hospitals and Clinics, which also helped provide volunteers, facilities and other support for Free Bikes 4 Kidz.
Esau eventually hopes to take the program nationwide. "I really do think that this can be a national organization," he says, "because the supply is there and the need is there." Yet it's a big step, as a larger organization will be needed, with national sponsors, says Esau.
Yet he's seen enough smiling children to know the rewards. Eight-year-old Yabed Tiempos's smile is matched only by that of mother, Yeimi Zaragoza, as they leave with the red bike Yabed picked out himself.
"Happy, happy," said Zaragoza, after apologizing for her limited English. "Thank you so much."
We remember our first bike for what it represents, in freedom, expanding boundaries and responsibility. Such are the feelings gathering dust on idled bikes in garages, until Free Bikes 4 Kidz helps a boy like Yabed set them free.
(Copyright 2011 by KARE. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)