With school students enjoying Spring Break across the province, Cycling BC’s iRide program took the opportunity to visit the Vancouver Bicycle Trade Show, prepare our 2nd bicycle fleet for action and of course run an exciting program for students participating in Surrey School District’s DREAM (Drama, Recreation, Extracurricular, Arts and Music) Camps.
New iRide in-school coach, Julian Base joined Wes Ochitwa in Surrey last week, working with a broad spectrum of students. Highlights of the week included a young boy who could float on the bike despite his small stature, and a short ride in a small forest path on school grounds. Each day featured one 90 minute session per group of 20 students, with 2 groups per day. iRide visited Lena Shaw, Woodward, Westerman, Hjord Road and Betty Huff throughout the week.
This week iRide coaches are recharging their batteries before rolling into non-stop events through the remainder of the school year. In the meantime, iRide Coordinator Ben Chaddock has been working hard to prepare the 2nd fleet of bicycles for action. Earlier today, Ben picked up a donation of cycling clothing items from La Bicicletta Pro Shop valued at over $12,000. These clothing items will be awarded to iRide participants showing enthusiasm, excellence or need. Look for photos of the new fleet and kit in action next week.
iRide also visited the Vancouver Bicycle Show over the weekend of March 7-8th and has since expanded our connections with certified coaching staff around the province.
I was hoping to meet a lot of enthusiast and passionate cycling professionals at the show and I’m happy to say that it went well. I met many people from across the province who live and work in smaller communities where cycling is quickly growing. I am now working with these local ‘super-coaches’ to create a progression of cycling programs in each area.
– iRide Coordinator Ben Chaddock
For event availability and full information on CyclingBC’s iRide Schools and Community Program, please contact ben@cyclingbc.net.
