By Amy Bounds
Boulder Daily Camera Staff Writer
Sixth-grader Anna Kellond regularly bikes to Southern Hills Middle School, but she mostly stuck to the sidewalks because she wasn’t comfortable riding on the street.
Then last week, she finished taking 30 hours of bike education that focused on vehicular cycling skills during her P.E. classes.
Sixth-grader Claire Silverman rides with the group during a Bike Ed class at Southern Hills Middle School. Matthew Jonas / Boulder Daily Camera Staff Photographer
“I’m really excited because now I can ride on the streets,” she said. “It helped my self-confidence.”
The Boulder Valley School District Transportation Options program, TO School, is offering its second year of bike education through a two-year, $35,000 Colorado Safe Routes to School grant.
The goal is to keep the program, now at nine schools, going after the grant ends by finding other funding sources.
“We want to teach the basics of being a vehicle on the road,” said program coordinator Geoffrey Weathers. “We want to show them they can do it, and they don’t need to be intimidated on the road. Our biggest objective is to be an encouragement program.”
For elementary schools, BLAST classes for fourth and fifth-graders introduce students to biking as a healthy and fun mode of transportation.
At middle school, Bikeology classes for sixth- and seventh-graders adds the practical experience of riding on nearby roads. For the occasional student who doesn’t know how to ride, instructors remove the pedals on one of the bikes to help them learn quickly.
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