Day 1
Gearing Up! On day one we stay close to homebase and spend the most of the day working on skills, drills and route maneuvers. In the afternoon we take a short ride to get used to riding as a group.
Day 2 – 5
We Ride! Each day of camp we ride to a new destination, ranging from spraygrounds, parks, art galleries, local businesses … to the government center! We typically increase our miles as the days progress. In the mornings we practice skills and traffic maneuvers that are relevant to and applied on our rides. After the morning skills session we embark on our daily adventure which includes plenty of snacks and stops along the way. Our routes feature the maneuvers we practice and apply our learning of the roads to the roads and hopefully inspire more rides at home!
How We Ride
We ride in a single file line, following the laws of traffic, clearly communicating our intentions to other road users. We have a Ride Leader, a Sweeper and at least a third adult, often more, who ride left of the group for lane placement, and assist with traffic flow at intersections.
We use a combination of strategies for riding around town. For example at times we take the lane, at other times we pull off safely and allow traffic to pass. We always ride as consistent and predictable as is possible. (For any questions about our rides please contact us!)
We structure our week knowing the group gets stronger with practice. A hidden magic in bike camp is that children learn to communicate and cooperate with each other in order to ride comfortably as a group. Every group has it’s journey and it is inspiring to watch how each one finds their own unique way of making it work.