Rain or shine, a caravan of bicycles wends its way west from the Mt. Tabor area to Cleveland High School, picking up riders as it goes. It’s sort of a biking school bus. By the time they reach the school on 26th Avenue near Powell Blvd., the group usually numbers anywhere from 10 to 20 cyclists. [Photo: Lee Rosch, at right, with his bike-pool mates.]

The group rides got their start about a year ago when Keegan Heron asked his neighbor and fellow Cleveland student, Lee Rosch, to ride to school with him. Participation just grew from there. On school mornings, the “bus” gets started with three or four students departing from Lee’s home on 54th Avenue for the full 2 ½-mile ride to the high school. Others join along the way.

Cleveland has installed some arch-type bike racks, an improvement over the recent past when students had to improvise, securing their bikes to fence posts or whatever else might be available. Since many of the riders take part in sports or other after-school activities – Lee Rosch, for instance, is a cross country runner – the bike commuters return home individually or in small groups.

While bicycling still hasn’t taken Cleveland by storm, “more people are bicycling,” says Rosch, 15, a sophomore. On nice days, he estimates, as many as 50 students pedal to school. Some feel the cyclists – though a minority of the student body – bring a special cache to the school. “Maybe we should have bumper stickers saying ‘Keep Cleveland Weird,’” Rosch says, a play on the “Keep Portland Weird” bumper stickers that celebrate the uniqueness of life in Portland.

Rosch has been serious about bicycling for about four years, having learned bike maintenance and other basics through a day camp operated by the Community Cycling Center. It helps that his parents, Ned, director of non-profit Kids on the Block, and Maxine, a nurse practitioner, often bicycle to work. Their reliance on bicycles enabled the family to get rid of one of their two cars.

Lee is old enough to get a driver’s learning permit but isn’t in any rush. He will get a license eventually, but his bike, he says, will remain his primary mode of transportation.