For its community cycling events in Pine Nursery Park, Oregon Adaptive Sports will have on hand recumbent and hand-cycled bikes available for those with disabilities.

Oregon Adaptive Sports was founded on the belief that everyone in Central Oregon deserves to recreate outdoors.

The nonprofit offers “life-changing outdoor recreation experiences to individuals with disabilities,” according to its mission statement. “Participants gain confidence, build self-esteem and strive for independence leading to an enhanced quality of life.”

And with that in mind, OAS will kick off its summer season in the coming weeks presenting individuals with disabilities the opportunity to get outside and moving.

“We serve folks that have physical, cognitive or developmental disability,” said Leah Persichilli, program director. “In the summers, we’re really cycling- and mountain bike-focused, which we feel like is a really good complement to our ski program, which most folks know us for in the winters.”

The organization breaks its summer roster of events into two categories: community sports and mountain biking.

Community sports includes cycling, hiking and golf. Folks with disabilities can participate and bring along friends and family, Persichilli said, adding, “We fully scholarship those community events.”

Among these is the Summer Cycling Series on Wednesday evenings (“Bike Night!”) and Saturday mornings (“Rise and Ride”) at Pine Nursery Park in Bend.

“We’re there with a lot of our adaptive road bicycles. So we have hand cycles and recumbent foot-pedaled cycles, and folks with disabilities can come out and ride those bikes, learn how to ride them riding around Pine Nursery, and then their friends and family can come along with,” Persichilli said.

There are also some scheduled tandem rides for blind or visually impaired athletes, and in July and August, OAS will take its community program to Sisters and Sunriver, respectively, to reach members of those communities. There are also five golf nights planned at Awbrey Glen in Bend this summer, as well as several hikes from June through August at places such as the Deschutes River Trail South Canyon Reach.

As for mountain biking, there are custom lessons Thursdays through Saturdays, as well as a mountain bike camp the first week of each month this summer.

“The mountain bike program is a little different,” Persichilli said. “The camp’s for folks that have some experience, but the custom mountain bike private lessons can serve all ages and all levels of experience.” There’s also a cost for the mountain bike programs, but scholarships are available.

For more info on all of these events, as well as how you can donate or volunteer, visit oregonadaptivesports.org or call 541-306-4774.