Renae Townsend’s students weren’t the only ones to benefit from a new bike skills programme which got underway at Cambridge East Primary School this week.
The Year three and four teacher readily admitted she had learned the importance of preparation before heading out for a bike ride, something which Bicycle Revolution Cambridge say every cyclist should do.
Thumbs up for bike skills, from left: Kana Coley, Will Joyce, Frankie and Billy McIntyre and Diamond Martin at the Bicycle Revolution Cambridge bike skills session at Cambridge East Primary School. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
Check tyres, brakes, gears and chains before you even hit the road, Bike Skills tutor Sean Christian told the children who were instead eyeing the slightly wet field and the opportunity to do some skids.
Bicycle Revolution is a group of volunteers who aim to give cyclists the freedom and expertise to ride around Cambridge safely. Their Bike Skills programme at Cambridge East is the first of several they hope to roll out in schools, retirement villages and community groups around the town.
There to help Christian out were world champion Paralympians Devon Briggs and Anna Taylor.
Bicycle Revolution founder and Olympian Sarah Ulmer said the group was able to source Grassroots Trust funding for the free Bike Skills training at Cambridge East.
“We’ve had schools and parents queuing up to get involved,” she said.
But they were also getting approached by older riders hopping back onto bikes after years away who wanted refresher courses and to learn more about riding e-bikes.
“We’re looking to cover everyone, all age groups,” she said.
Christian said a massive social change was occurring with bikes. He had noticed it was grandparents who were providing the impetus for their grandchildren to ride bikes.
“They buy bikes for them and have them at their place and go off riding together.”
Cycleways in places like Cambridge, Te Awamutu and Hamilton had made family bike riding attractive, he said.
Cambridge East assistant principal Kathy McIsaac said there had been a noticeable increase in children riding their bikes to school. The overflowing cycle bay at the school provided real evidence of that.
Getting the opportunity to improve their bike skills on the road gave children and their parents the confidence to ride to school even on what was a wet morning in Cambridge.
Bike Skills tutors, from left Sean Christian and New Zealand world champion paralympians Devon Briggs and Anna Taylor. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
