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.