New this year is the In-School PE based Bike Rodeo Program. For this we partner with a school PE Coach so we can integrate our program into their class, typically over 3 days, so we can reach a large number of students. We partnered with Larry Chauvin at Casis Elementary, who is also a coach at the Young Guns Running and Biking group, to pilot our trial run.

A Bike Rodeo is just another name for a youth skills clinic where participants learn basic riding and safety skills (bike control, stopping, obstacle avoidance, hand signals, and helmet fitting) and which may include a short, group ride. This type of clinic is most important for elementary school (K-5th grade) students but can be valuable for middle school (6th-8th grade) students as well.

At Casis Elementary we taught all 3rd through 5th grade students, over 350, during the three three days of the clinic. Many students brought their own bikes so we could do quick safety checks and we brought extras for those that didn’t. There were so many students’ bikes, we had to bring extra bike racks so they could park them in front of the school!

Everyone had a great time and it was very popular with the students, the teachers and the staff. Even the students who didn’t want to ride came out smiling because they were able to help us run the course and learn the material by ensuring riders were demonstrating the proper skills.

We will be providing a similar service to Maplewood, Zavala and Metz Elementary Schools this fall and look forward to expanding this program further in 2015.

So many kids rode their bikes, we needed extra racks:

Kids lined up and ready to get going:

Helmet clinic makes sure they wear it correctly(as they laugh at the wrong way):

Rolling into the rodeo course:

Practicing hand signals. While our helpers work the signs:

Practicing right turns:

Our helpers look on, as the riders dodge the “Turtles” and head for the “Rumble Ropes”:

What a great day!!  So excited for more PE Rodeos to come!!