iRide @ Vancouver Island

Lauren reports:

The students at Queneesh showed amazing skill when working on the A Frames and Teeter Totters this week! I saw a lot of courage as students progressed in our final session to conquer a few difficult stunts, which of course resulted in lots of super big smiles.  In addition to the stunts, my group perfected their bike handling skills with straight line riding, ascending and descending, and front wheel lifts.

Students at Cedar Elementary in Campbell River enjoyed sunny conditions this week and they sure did shine! They learned to trust their eyes to look where they were going on the straight line riding courses and then successfully transferred those skills to the A Frames, conquering any doubts they could make it! Super success with many students and two students became riders for the first time! Congratulations to Chris and Radika!

And the students at Arden finished up their iRide program with an everything-in obstacle course…that they rocked!  Mastering climbing and descending, and wheel lifts were on tap this session for the Puntledge kids and they were super stoked to learn how to get up and over all those pesky obstacles! They are really looking forward to their last session next week where we will take to the trails for a big group ride, to show off all their newfound skills!

After a soggy weekend leading up to the Victoria trip, staff at Kelset Elementary worked with the local community center to procure a collection of parking lots for iRide while the school’s grass field dried. This alternative location provided challenges and benefits and challenged Adam, Glen and myself to tackle our iRide coaching with a different style. Groups were split into two parts quickly during each session, rather than our traditional red light / green light warmup.  However we were able to enjoy the use of a local gravel trail that provided the right atmosphere for our program. On our final day, we returned to the school field for lots of games and challenges.

Students enjoyed the sessions and the there were numerous occasions on our final day when parents made an effort to come speak with us coaches and explain how their children were now excited about cycling whereas before parents had given up. The school staff were also very excited and have already asked to book a return session in 2016/2017.  Students also created a collection of thank you cards for the coaches. Adam and Glen picked up some new nicknames through the week and now roll as ‘Sideshow’ and ‘Captain Pickle’ respectively.  The event wouldn’t have been a success without the use of the Vancouver bicycle fleet and in time we hope to fund more bicycle fleets for schools outside the lower mainland, making iRide more accessible to students who do not have access to a bicycle at home.