San Jose, Calif. - December 11, 2010 - BMX riders and X-Games Gold Medalists Ryan Nyquist and Joey Garcia challenged Silicon Valley corporate execs in a tricycle race at this year's Big Bike Build on Saturday, December 11th, 2010. In its sixth year, Big Bike Build 2010, presented by TurningWheels for Kids, brought together more than 700 volunteers to build 2,400 bikes for underprivileged kids in one day at the San Jose Convention Center's South Hall, 435 S. Market St., San Jose.

The work whistle blew at 8 a.m. with bicycle construction peaking at 11 a.m. when volunteers set down their tools to watch the first-ever Great Tricycle Race, pitting the pros against local all-stars including: Gene Banman, CEO of Zero Motorcycles; Dan Fenton, CEO of Team San Jose; Rich Gamboa, Vice President of UBS; Carl Guardino, CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group; Joe Parisi, CEO and Founder of Therma Corp.; Joe Rodriguez, Columnist for the San Jose Mercury News; Josh Thompson, former Strikeforce Mixed Martial Arts champ; Wes Wasson, Chief Marketing Officer and Sr. Vice President of Citrix Systems; Tom Werner, CEO of SunPower Corporation; Chris Wilder, Executive Director of the Valley Medical Center Foundation

Nyquist and Garcia didn't make it past the qualifying round while Barry Arata from Bomber Builders took home first place.

"We definitely weren't in the lead," Nyquist said. "So after that it was all just fun and games. We rubbed a little bit. I think Joey almost flipped me over. It was good."

Nyquist has taken the Dirt Crown twice in the Dew Tour ('09 and '10) and won 13 X-Game medals in his legendary BMX career, spanning more than 15 years. Garcia won the Gold medal at the 1996 X-Games and Bronze medals at the 1995 and 1998 X-Games. Their participation was arranged by volunteer Mathew Mardesich, president and CEO of ROG & Co., Inc., which develops action-sport terrain parks for kids.

"To be honest, I don't know if I've ever seen this many bikes in one place before," Nyquist said, "and the fact that they're giving away every single bike is fantastic. It's going to make a lot of kids happy on Christmas morning."

Twenty children from CityTeam Ministries also participated in the Big Bike Build by helping build the bikes they would take home, along with a helmet and lock. The remaining bikes were arranged to be given to more than 25 Bay Area charitable organizations for distribution."A bike is still the No. 1 requested item by children above an iPod or video game or anything else," states Runsvold. "A bike provides a child with--not only health benefits--but a great deal of independence and joy."

To date, TurningWheels for Kids has raised nearly $900,000 to purchase new bikes and helmets, and it has recently started to visit local neighborhoods to assist with and teach children routine maintenance of the bikes. Thanks to two individual donors who pay all modest administrative fees, 100 percent of donations go to buying bikes and helmets.