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Winchester-Clark County Parks and Recreation are looking for some riders to help bust some wild bikes this Saturday at Lykins Park in Winchester.

Well, not literally, but local youth ages three to 15 are encouraged to come starting at 9 a.m. to learn safety, ride and, most importantly, potentially win a free bike.

Last year, 36 new bikes were raffled away, and this year parks and recreation hopes to give away even more.

“Thanks to our partners, the Elks, we will have over 50 bicycles total to give away with a helmet,” said Parks and Recreation Assistant Programs Director Tiffany Fletcher.

The Winchester Elks Lodge annually procures a grant to purchase the bikes and has worked with parks and recreation since the event’s inception and does much more than help with the financial side of the event.

“The Elks also put in a lot of manual labor. They put together bikes this year and tuned them up to make sure that they are ready to go,” Fletcher said.“They are also there with smiles on their faces on the day of the event. They are a really great community partner.”

So how will the raffle work?

“When you register, you will get some raffle tickets and you are going to go and put those tickets in a bag attached to the bicycle that you want,” Fletcher explained.

The raffle will close the event, but before they win a bike, participants will learn the do’s and dont’s for cruising around Winchester on two wheels.

“We will have someone there to teach you what your helmet should feel like if it is on properly and the hand signals if you are on the road and what you can do to keep yourself safe, like signaling when you are turning,” Fletcher said.

Parks and recreation staff will even ensure a bike is road ready.

“We have our maintenance guys out there for a bike checkup,” Fletcher said. “So if you bring your own bike, they will check your breaks and your tires to make sure that it is road safe.”

And what better way to apply that recently learned knowledge than riding through a course?

“This year, we are going to have three courses,” Fletcher said. “We have one course that is mostly just for riding, it is like an hourglass shape and it is to practice curves…There is a bigger course that is going to have some stops and some turns. It is circular, and there will be intersections so you can practice what you just learned…And this year, since it is a bike rodeo we are going to have a barrel run course.”

Online registrants are guaranteed a free swag bag, and those that register in person will receive one while supplies last. All who register will receive bike raffle tickets.

While not everyone will win a bike, a good time for all is guaranteed.

“It’s a really fun day,” Fletcher said.