Big Things Are Happening in Bike Education
Celebrating milestones and reflecting upon our impact
By Jill Holloway & Dani Solis
In April of this year our bike education program hit a huge milestone: 25,000 class participants since 2011! We couldn’t have done it without our amazing bike education team, past and present. Learn about what the program has meant to class participants by reading below!
Bike Builds
For the first time in many years, we held two youth bike builds where we built and gave away bikes to kids in underserved communities.
The first, in May, was in partnership with Waterside Workshops and the Multicultural Institute in Berkeley. Waterside Workshops assembled the bikes and at the event 13 kids rode away on their new Cleary bikes equipped with helmets, lights, bells, and a patch kit!
In June we held a second bike build in partnership with the Lincoln Square Recreation Center in Oakland. At this event, seven bike education instructors and staff assembled bikes in the morning. In addition to receiving a new Cleary bike, 20 kids were able to practice their bike skills in a kids bike rodeo in the afternoon. Many of the kids are keeping their bikes at the Center for the summer to continue to practice and have fun on their new bikes.
Kids Bike Fleet
At the end of 2022 we received a generous donation from Cleary Bikes to upgrade our kids’ bike fleet. We put these new bikes to the ultimate test in June at the Concord KidFest. Over two days our instructors engaged with 75 kids learning to ride or strengthen their bike skills. We heard some great feedback from parents: “Great job with instruction. We have had a hard time instructing our daughter how to ride without training wheels.”
E-Bike Curriculum & Classes
In partnership with Waterside Workshops, we developed a new one hour workshop: e-Bike Safety. We piloted the new curriculum with the Berkeley E-Bike Equity Project, which Waterside Workshops is a part of. To date we have engaged over 90 community members in learning how to operate and maintain e-bikes.
