Last week iRide Head Coach Julian Base visited the students of Squamish Elementary, under the watchful eye of the Stawamus Chief. Presented by RBC Canada and Gran Fondo Canada, this Sea-to-Sky Corridor event aims to provide a safe and fun environment for cycling in school, and to inspire youth to enjoy exploring the world on their bicycle. Squamish teachers note that “students are calmer in class and more focused after riding with iRide,” and Julian explained, “it is really important to adapt your coaching strategy for each collection of age and ability. Especially here in Squamish where the average ability is higher.” Read the full report and see the gallery from Squamish here.
iRide events also recently rolled out in Kamloops (full report and gallery here) and Comox (full report and gallery here) with new additions to our coaching staff.
Grade 4 rider, Sidney Howe says:
“I like this program because it is awesome…by the second session I was doing little jumps, small drop offs, teeter totters and more! I liked every little bit of it…Before today I never thought I’d be able to do a little jump in a million years but I can now.”
iRide coach Nigel Thompson and Colby Johnson provided iRide’s first community event to a Brownie Troop in Chilliwack. The two-day program featured 2.5 hour sessions on a Tuesday evening and Saturday afternoon, pushing the coaches to alter the itinerary, creating a good practice run for our scheduled summer camps.
Colby notes:
Since the session was long we split it into parts. After some skills and practice, we took a break and learned how to change a flat. The girls were pretty excited to take the tires off after watching a demo, in fact their enthusiasm for the wheel change and getting it all just right surprised me. Chapeau Chilliwack Brownies!
Colby also noted that after visiting Peace Arch Elementary on Thursday, he helped facilitate a purchase of an iRide Norco Glide:
Best day ever. Sadi went from not being able to ride a bike, to riding with her peers, to showing her step-dad that she deserves an iRide bike. Sadi was really happy because cycling is something that she can do with her dad.
iRide Head Coach Wes Ochitwa will be making a special drop-off at Peace Arch on April 30th to deliver the bicycle. To learn more about pricing and sales of our iRide equipment, please contact iRide@cyclingbc.net or (604) BC-iRide.
The big surprise of the week came when Eva Perez, Principal of Lions Bay delivered a school-created thank-you book for our iRide staff. This 20-page summary included one photo of each student and a quote from their experience. Notable quotes include:
What’s is your secret to riding awesome?
If you want to get better and better you have to practice and your gears are the best way to go fast and you need to be strong on 7th gear.
What’s so special to you about bike riding?
The teeter-totter because when you go up its fun and when you go down it’s so bumpy and kind of scary.
If you could ride anywhere in the world with your best friend, where would you ride together?
In the ocean with a submarine bike.
Every week iRide continues to grow as coaches, teachers and supporters continue to contact iRide Coordinator Ben Chaddock. Twenty coaches were recently certified under the NCCP Let’s Ride! coaching program in Victoria and another crew are earning their stripes in Smithers this coming weekend. Special Let’s Ride & iRide certification courses are currently scheduled for Kelowna, on June 12th and 13th, and Comox, on June 19th and 20th. Please join us as iRide summer camp programming is in the works and we are building our coaching staff with fun and exciting people at this time. Please contact admin@cyclingbc.net to register for an NCCP Let’s Ride course and get ready to coach iRide.
If you’re a fan of Cycling BC’s iRide program, check us out on Twitter, Instagram, or donate through Chimp to support our programs in your area.
