R4F (Riding for Focus)

We extended our riding season as far as we could, and now winter is here. In reality, winter got here a few weeks ago, but we pushed back against it, not ready to give up our daily rides yet. The  final ride of the season bathed us in the warm light of the sunrise on an otherwise frigid morning.  As luck would have it, the last two days of our scheduled session were rainy and icy, so it was a perfect opportunity to wrap up some loose ends. On Monday we washed off and dried the bikes, and put them away for the season. It was cold enough outside that the water from the hose froze on some of the bikes on contact. By this time, our system for moving the bikes in and out of our tight storage space had evolved into a well choreographed routine. Kids delivered their bikes to the door of the space, and I stacked them up in just under four minutes. On Tuesday, we went over the answers to the Road Readiness Written Test as a group to try and clear up any misconcepti

I put together a short video about the construction of the Pump Track. Thanks again to everyone for helping make this happen! It's a blast.

The way our schedule has worked this fall, we have had to be very careful with our time. Every minute has counted! So it's been a challenge to find a time to write thank you notes to the folks who helped us with the pump track. Finally on Friday morning I pulled out the cards that had been written by students so we could all sign them. After signing the cards himself, a 7th grader offered up his back as a writing surface for the others. This was kind of emblematic of the way we have grown as a group from riding together this fall.  Students all help each other bring the bikes out to the corral when they arrive each morning, and work together to put them back into our storage room after our ride. They have learned to be patient with each other, to cheer each other on, and to help each other out. There are times, still, when kids are jockeying for position and trying to squeeze by each other, but these make for teachable moments.  The temperature on Friday was just below f

It shouldn't have been a shock that it got cold in Maine this week, but after a fall of unseasonably warm weather, it kind of was. Especially when we have this pump track to ride! Barb Mills and I keep arriving at school in the frigid morning air thinking "there is no way the kids will ride today," only to hear the tap-tap-tap on the door at 6:55. Our early arrivals begin the process of walking the bikes from the storage room to the corral on the side of the school. As more kids arrive, more bikes get moved. By 7:05 the bikes are lined up outside and the crew is busy doing their ABC Quick checks and snapping on their helmets. With such a short window of warm weather in midcoast Maine, we are realizing we will need to build a stable of loaner gloves and jackets for kids to borrow. Until that time, we are riding cold weather  routes that keep the speed low and incorporate some climbs to get the blood pumping. On the way back to school on Tuesday, I rode sweep

This preliminary report of our amazing pump track construction was created by David Wood of The Specialized Foundation. Thanks Dave!

BMS's eighth grade Riding For Focus Ambassador, Elliot, put together this infographic about all the riding we've done this fall. Numbers tell a story, and this one is pretty impressive.

Good morning! You all look a little chilly. Sometimes you've got to just get on the bike and go. Today was one of those days. It was cool out and wispy mist hung over the athletic fields. After moving the bikes outside and setting them in the corral, the kids jumped right on their ABCQuick checks. They lit up the LEDs on their helmets, and waited for me to finish taking attendance.  Today's plan: Warm up. Ride. Reinforce skills covered (shifting, weaving, cadence, starting and stopping). Cool down. One of my 7th graders took me under his wing to try and teach me how to bunny hop. I could almost do it! At the end of the ride I offered a more challenging alternative for kids to get back to school. There is a root-strewn, technical trail that leads back to the fields. A brave few rode the whole thing, but most had to walk at least part of the trail. They were so psyched to have the chance to let loose for a brief moment. This is a perfect example of the FO

The Riding For Focus crew enjoyed another morning of unseasonably warm weather today. We began by taking a resting pulse rate before riding.   Most kids had no trouble finding the pulse at their carotid artery, but we showed them their radial pulse as well. Calculating heart rates is a great way to embed mental math into our riding sessions. Count your pulse for fifteen seconds, double the result and then double it again. That number is your heartbeats per minute (BPM).  I asked kids to remember this number so we could compare it to another reading after riding for a bit.  As we headed toward the dirt roads of Oak Grove Cemetery, the adults watched the kids ride and reminded them how to shift, what cadence to maintain, and how to start and stop while in control. The exit from the fields is a steep, unpaved dirt path, and many kids took on the challenge of this short climb successfully. I only heard a few cringe-worthy gear grindings as a couple of kids tried to shift in the midd

The mornings have been cool and crisp as we kicked off Riding For Focus this week. Fall is in the air, and we have twenty-one rosy cheeked middle schoolers eagerly hauling their bikes "hand over hand" from the storage area to the bike corral each morning.  They are motivated to get out riding as quickly as possible, so they manage to be focused and efficient, even at 7:00 am. So far we have been going through the curriculum lesson by lesson, checking off skills as we see them demonstrated. Fitting and checking your bike before riding, fitting your helmet properly, how to start, how to stop, how to shift gears, how to maintain a consistent pedaling cadence. It's brilliant to have kickstands on these bikes so we can create a mobile bike corral wherever we go. Getting kids in close, momentarily asking them to separate themselves from the distraction of those shiny new bicycles, and then releasing them back to their rides after instruction creates the space for clear deli

Our friends at Center Street Cycles  have taken delivery of our Riding For Focus bikes, and they are wasting no time getting them built! I'll be heading over to Brunswick to pick up the first batch this afternoon. I'll plan to record each of their serial numbers and then work with Elliot, my RFF Student Ambassador to number them for easy identification. Once students are correctly sized to a bike, that will be "their" bike for the duration of each six-week session.  It's so exciting to finally get this ball rolling. Thank you Specialized!

You know that wet spot on the Whiskeag Trail that fires mud up into the undercarriage of your bike every spring and fall as you blast through it? The one that is deceptively deep and shows up in an otherwise dry section of trail, almost always throwing you off your line for the next technical section? Well, say goodbye to it! Beginning in 2016, Bath Middle School began a collaboration with the Kennebec Estuary Land Trust  to perform maintenance and improvements on one of their iconic local trails, The Whiskeag . The Whiskeag is a multi-use trail that weaves its way through a corridor of green space from near downtown Bath to the northern end of land in Merrymeeting Bay. It's popular with hikers, bikers, hunters, snowshoers and skiers, but is widely unknown to kids in Bath. We figured that getting middle school students out there to do work would help the trail, acquaint the students with this precious resource, and give the kids the chance to work on a cooperative project. T

On Sunday, September 10th, The Bicycle Coalition of Maine awarded RSU 1 the sum of $2,705 for the construction of a pump track next to Bath Middle School and The Bath Skatepark. This grant will allow us to build and maintain an exciting cycling resource for our community. A pump track is a short mountain bike loop with terrain features and banked turns allowing skilled riders to propel themselves without pedaling. It takes practice, but once you figure it out it's a great way to build both skills and full-body fitness. I have been talking about a pump track for Bath with the Rec. Department Director, Steve Balboni, for a number of years, and he has been a supporter of the idea from the get-go. The grant opportunity from the Bicycle Coalition was brought to my attention, and it seemed like a good fit. I'm thrilled that we received it! A plan for the track will be submitted to the City Planner in the next week, and we hope to get the track built before the snow flies. We

Mike Sinyard, owner and creator of Specialized Bike Company Riding mountain bikes with kids is something I have dreamt about for years. As a teacher and a cyclist I have always felt that there were ways that biking could help children achieve academic, health and social success.  I ran a few informal groups two or three times, but it was always tricky finding bikes for kids who didn't have their own, and the bikes the kids brought had to be assessed and often times required repair before they could be ridden. Biking was also seen as an extra-curricular add-on, not an activity that could happen during the school day. With all the challenges, I didn't see a path forward. Until now. In late February of 2017, I had a chance meeting with my friend, Kevin Shute. Kevin works at the YMCA and is an avid cyclist and cycling advocate (as evidence of his commitment to cycling, consider that he commutes daily, all year long-- in Maine).  After chatting for a bit about nothing in