By Mary O’KEEFE

ccording to bicycling.com, a person weighing 150 pounds, cycling at 10 miles per hour for 20 minutes will burn 91 calories. If bikers increase their speed to between 10 and 12 mph, that 20 minutes could burn 136 calories.

This type of information was shared with attendees at the 5th Annual Jewel City Fun & Fitness Day on Sunday. Helping kids and adults choose healthy lifestyles was the goal of the Noon Rotary Club of Glendale, which hosted the event. What started with bicycling has grown over the years into so much more.

“Rotary is about service and community. At the time (five years ago) the Club wanted to do something … about bike safety,” said Nevada Hemelians of the Noon Rotary Club of Glendale.

The members started the annual event to help educate people on bike and pedestrian safety.

“More and more people were coming out to the event and if you didn’t bike we [didn’t] have anything for them,” Hemelians said. “We started realizing we needed to go beyond bikers.”

The event, which was held at the Glendale YMCA, featured all kinds of games and booths to inspire a fit life. But its foundation continues to be bicycling and the event incorporated several different bike rides.

“We have one at 15 miles, one at 40 miles and another one we call our Gravel Adventure Bike Ride that traveled through Pasadena and Glendale,” said Irene Bourdon, one of the event organizers.

In addition to the rides, there was live music, a rock climbing wall, free yoga and Zumba classes and performances all day. Organizers also partnered with the Glendale Police Dept. and officers led bikers, both kids and adults, on a ride around Glendale teaching bicycle safety while participants exercised.

There was a fee for those who participated in the fitness bicycle rides, except for the family fun ride. Those funds, as well as others, were donated by the Rotary to three non-profit organizations: Glendale Adventist Medical Center’s medical missions, Glendale YMCA and Homenetmen Glendale.

  Mary Okeefe