R4F (Riding for Focus)

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