Isaac Murphy Bicycle Club offers lessons, free bikes to East End kids

Malcolm Barrett of Lexington helped T'Aaryon Newcomb, 7, maintain balance as the youth got going on his new bike. ANGELA BALDRIDGE

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Bicycles, helmets, locks, safety lights and water bottles were given to children who attended at least two of three bike classes offered by the Isaac Murphy Bicycle Club.

The club was created to give East End children bikes and bike training to enable them to ride on Lexington's Legacy Trail.

Writer Frank X Walker, who's also an associate professor of English at the University of Kentucky, came up with the idea for the club after noticing only a few people of color at the opening-day festivities for the Legacy Trail. When completed, the trail will begin at the site of what was the home of Isaac Murphy, a 19th-century black jockey.

Walker is the author of Isaac Murphy: I Dedicate This Ride, a book of poems based on the life of the jockey. Walker is trying to get 100 families to ride bicycles in the annual Roots & Heritage Festival parade on Saturday.

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