Thank you for showing me how to ride the dirt hill walls beside the playground, under the trees. I had no idea I could ride that way and it was pretty awesome – Emma, Grade 5 @ Ecole Andre Piolat
It’s just incredible how excited the students are about riding with the coaches. When I book next year I would like to request an after-school program in conjunction with the in-school booking – Emily, iRide Champion @ Ecole Andre Piolat
Cycling BC’s iRide program enjoyed warm spring weather last week during events in Squamish, Cowichan Bay, Cranbrook, Lynn Valley, Coquitlam and Surrey. After-school iRide Advance programming continued in Lynn Valley at Kirkstone Park. iRide in-school programs visited Highlands Elementary and Kootenay Christian Academy in Cranbrook, Hillcrest Middle School in Coquitlam, Gibson Elementary in Surrey, Squamish Elementary in Squamish, Kirkstone Park in Lynn Valley, Maple Bay in the Cowichan Valley and Valley View in Comox. The iRide team has coached over 3500 students this spring, with weekend events now available across the province.
The Victoria iRide team is enjoyed a busy week at Margaret Jenkins Elementary and PISE’s Family Sport & Recreation Festival. Adam Walker reports:
This week was the first time and Glen and I had the chance to use a full fleet of bicycles for our iRide sessions. It was fabulous. We were visiting Margaret Jenkins Elementary, located close to downtown Victoria and home to one of the most successful after-school cycling clubs in the region. By building an iRide presence at this school, we are helping more students engage in cycling with the hopes of joining the after-school club and participating in future school-based leagues. On the weekend, we also visited the PISE Family Sport and Recreation Festival and provided 45 min skills sessions to participants over the course of the day. I am really looking forward to more school sessions at Lake Hill and Rogers over the coming weeks in preparation for a larger school campaign in 2017.
The Cranbrook iRide team is now halfway through its five-school campaign leading up to the local youth gran fondo on May 29th. John Mandryk reports:
This week Tim Fix and I worked with student at Jaffray Elementary, Higlands Elementary, TM Roberts Elementary and the Kootenay Christian School. Our sessions out here are a mix of full days with 5 classes and shorter 1-2 class days. The enthusiasm for this skills-based program is growing and we have accumulated a total of 7 working kids bikes for our rental fleet. With each passing week, our program is building towards a local youth gran fondo taking place at the end of the month. Our goal with iRide here in Cranbrook to to visit a over 5 schools and get some kids excited about a fun event like the fondo. It is going well!
The Vancouver iRide team of Coach Tubbs (Wes Ochitwa), Anna Banana (Anna Bradford) and Trix (Carsinn Wilson) visited Elementary in Surrey and Andre Piolat in North Vancouver: Wes reports:
Tanlines and Water Stations were the theme at Bonaccord Elementary last Monday, smack dab in the middle of Surrey. Cycling BC’s long time road and track bike racer, Clair Cameron hosted iRide as her school’s champion and her appreciative students enjoyed the skills and mixed-terrain challenges. Student challenges included “Crazy Feet” cadence races, “Volcano Surf Rider” game and an exploratory ride on the school’s extended grounds. It was great to see how excited the students were to learn that they can in fact ride on the challenging terrain right in their own school’s back yard.
For the remainder of the week, I was thrilled to take a bit of a back seat role at Ecole Andre Piolat in North Vancouver as I observed and lent helping hand to our two newer star coaches, Anna and Carsinn.
Anna & Carsinn report:
Wes continued to show Carsinn and I the ropes of head coaching this week at Ecole Andre Piolet in North Vancouver. The kids were super energetic and eager to learn and ride! We were able to cover safety skills, pairs riding, and dismounts while finishing off with a big obstacle course including stunts on the final day.
iRide Jams are now open for registration. These 1-day events provide communities with a chance to experience iRide and engage with parents. Our iRide program is designed to inspire local parents to develop their own iRide Advance program in their neighborhood and these events are run to illustrate how it can work.
iRide @ North Vancouver’s MEC BikeFest: May 28th – learn more here
iRide Jam @ West Vancouver’s Ambleside Community Day: June 4th – learn more here
iRide is also currently accepting bookings for the 2016-2017 autumn session. To learn more, please visit the iRide page here. To become an iRide newsletter recipient and stay up-to-date on all future iRide events in your area, please go here. If you’re a fan of Cycling BC’s iRide program, check us out on Twitter, Instagram, or Donate to support our programs in your area. To learn more about booking a future event, please contact us at iRide@cyclingbc.net or 1-604-BC-iRide.
On continu de développer nos habiletés avec iRide et @CyclingBC aujourd’hui pic.twitter.com/TID4Qbg2mB
— Ecole André-Piolat (@csf_andrepiolat) May 4, 2016
