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28 URBANVELO.ORG
ing that whoever’s the baddest and the
toughest and whoever can act the hardest
is the one who’s going to succeed in life.
You have to earn their respect—but the
only way you’re going to earn it is if you
don’t let ‘em punk you.”
Sometimes the kids get into fights with
each other, and on a few occasions, have
tried to fight Patrick. Admittedly a laidback
guy, the kids challenge him to enforce
more civil conduct. The job can be fun, he
says he loves it, but some days it tests his
patience. Fortunately, some of the older
kids have taken on leadership roles among
the group, too. One high school senior,
Carlos, is known as the “head honcho.”
“You just make it known that you’re
going to be here, so you might as well deal
with it,” Orozco says. “Eventually they
just started warming up to us and had fun.
Some days it’s off, some days it’s on, but
just because we have an off day doesn’t
mean we should quit.”
Whether six or 26 kids show up, bike
polo always brings with it the spirit of
fun and camaraderie, and injects a lighthearted
attitude into the tense atmosphere
of Bakersfield’s poorest neighborhood.
“It’s an incredible experience and
I need to go back and see how they’re
doing,” says DeLaCerda, who is now working
for Immersed in the Wild, a wilderness
program for at-risk children in nearby
Springvale. “I felt like we are—whoever is
out there working with them—we make a
huge impression on these kids. We would
always leave there kind of giddy, riding our
bikes away thinking, ‘In ten years, what do
you think Treyvon’s gonna be like? What
about Tyrone?’ We have fun thinking that
because we’re doing what we’re doing we
have the opportunity to steer them in a
different direction. The best part of it was
just being a part of these kids lives.”