While brainstorming on ideas for his Eagle Scout project, John Mitchell&rsquo;s wheels started turning. </p><p>Literally.</p><p>The 14-year-old from Stilwell was riding his bike when a realization hit him: he was sitting on something precious. After some research, his fear was confirmed. There were hundreds of children and adults in the Kansas City area who probably didn&rsquo;t even have a bicycle. It was a thought that was kind of stunning to the avid cyclist, especially since he knew several people who had more bikes than they could handle.</p><p>&ldquo;A lot of my neighbors had old bikes in their garages that they never rode and were looking to get rid of,&rdquo; said Mitchell, a freshman at Rockhurst High School. &ldquo;Then I looked in my own garage and found all the extra bikes we had and it just made sense.&rdquo;</p><p>The reaction to his project was thunderous. People &mdash; hailing from his church, bike club and local bike stores &mdash; showed up on his doorstep with used bikes. </p><p>Adult bikes, kid bikes, racing bikes and mountain bikes piled high in his backyard.</p><p>There were 58 of them.</p><p>Along with 20 of his friends and fellow Boy Scouts, Mitchell spent five hours a day for three Saturdays in a row cleaning and tuning the bikes. They also sorted out the numerous supplies, including water bottles, pumps, jerseys, tires, inner tubes, helmets, bike shoes and pedals.</p><p>They even test rode the bikes around the block to make sure each one was safe.</p><p>&ldquo;So many of these donated smaller bikes were in excellent condition. They were just abandoned because the kids outgrew them,&rdquo; said his mom, Cindy Mitchell. &ldquo;The kids who will receive these bikes don&rsquo;t care about how big or small the bike is. They just want a bike.&rdquo;</p><p>The bikes they could not fix, Mitchell donated to the 816 Bicycle Collective, an organization that repairs old bikes for the community.</p><p>The majority of his bikes, however, went to the Urban Kansas City Community of Cycling.</p><p>&ldquo;I thought it was an incredible number of bikes. I&rsquo;m really impressed that a young man volunteered his time and effort to help for this cause,&rdquo; said Kenneth Walker, founder of the organization. &ldquo;This is the time of year where I don&rsquo;t know where the supplies are going to come from, and then he just came into my life out of the blue. I feel so blessed.&rdquo;</p><p>He plans to donate some of the bikes to the Mexican Council and use them in a bike giveaway he does in collaboration with the Kansas City Council.</p><p>Walker started his non-profit organization after being injured in 2003. Biking helped him lose the weight he had gained from the injury and lifted his spirits.</p><p>&ldquo;I want to share that feeling with other people who have those issues,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There is a huge obesity rate in Kansas City. Some kids can&rsquo;t join a football team or a baseball team and cycling becomes their best option.&rdquo;</p><p>Mitchell couldn&rsquo;t agree more.</p><p>His passion for bike-riding has kept him fit for more than a decade and helped strengthen his bond with his father. Both participate in local and national bike tours. This summer they spent a week riding across Iowa.</p><p>&ldquo;Not only is cycling a great exercise but it is also a way to relax and let the stress of each day go away,&rdquo; Mitchell said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s also a totally different perspective of the road and a way of looking at things. You stop and smell the flowers instead of driving by fast.&rdquo;</p><p>He hopes his donation will help more people fall in love with the sport as well.</p><p>So does his mom.</p><p>&ldquo;Kids these days spend most of their time playing video games instead of riding bikes,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I wish I could see more kids outside having fun.&rdquo;</p><p>Mitchell also hopes his project inspires more people to donate their old bikes instead of tossing them in the nearest junkyard.</p><p>&ldquo;The bike I have now &mdash; which I rode across Iowa &mdash; was actually a bike I found on the side of the road,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Someone left it to be thrown away. I spent $60 repairing it, which is nothing compared to the $2,000 you would spend on a brand new racing bike in the store.&rdquo;</p><p>Mitchell hopes to earn his Eagle Scout award in the spring.</p><p><hr class="infobox-hr-separator" /> <div class="infobox"> <strong><span class="infobox-head">Donate a bike </span></strong><br /> For information on donating a bicycle, go to the 816 Bicycle Collective&rsquo;s Web site at <a href="http://www.816bike.org">www.816bike.org</a> or send e-mail to Urban Kansas City Community of Cycling founder Kenneth Walker at <a href="mailto:manlyguy4304@yahoo.com">manlyguy4304@yahoo.com</a>.</p><p></div>