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Fun in the Dark

I love fall in New England. The changing colors of the leaves on giant maple trees create isolated umbrellas of warm, yellow light as the sun shines through them. The air is crisp and carries the scent of wood smoke. The dirt on the trails hits its perfect balance of humidity after the first few freeze-thaw cycles. The temperatures are cool, but comfortable. There are no more mosquitoes. The only downside, really, is the shortness of the days. We are on the downswing now, and when I meet my 6th graders to ride at 6:55 a.m., it is still night. Today's sunrise was 7:13 a.m.

This presents some challenges, not the least of which is leaving campus in such low light conditions. So today, I took the lead of Libba, a fellow RFF Champion from New Orleans, and had the kids do a game called "The Circle of Doom" in one of our large, empty parking lots. We defined a large circle by placing adults on the outside of it. Kids have to ride continuously within the boundary of the circle while bit by bit, we shrink it in one or two step increments. If a rider has to put their foot down, they are "out" for that round. We play until only one or two riders remain. 

 This is a perfect activity for practicing balancing, turning, cadence, and delicate braking. I was able to point out that the winners of each round had one thing in common -- they all had a finger or two on both brake levers at all times. 

Last week the entire 6th grade was away for a week of environmental education field trips, so we weren't able to ride at all. I was worried that we'd have some kids forget to meet for RFF this morning. Amazingly, or maybe predictably, only two of our twenty students were missing. Kids are SO INTO riding bikes at school. There is a palpable buzz about it among them. I just wish we could spend more time riding each day and that more kids could have the opportunity to join us. 

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