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Connecting the Dots

"I forgot how much fun riding a bike is!" 


The Maine snow has departed, and Riding For Focus' spring 2019 session is finally underway! For this session we decided to focus on 7th grade students since their schedule allows them to ride for an hour at the start of the day. What a difference it makes to have more time! We are able to dive deep on the lessons in the curriculum which allows us to move through them more quickly. Once the kids are "road ready" and it's time to leave campus, we will be able to cover some ground. I am already planning routes that will take us to beautiful spots that were previously out of reach because of time constraints. 

May is also National Bicycle Month, and today is National Ride Your Bike to School Day. As an incentive, we gave every kid who rode their bike to school a sticker upon arrival and a choice of bicycle related prizes. Everyone who rode to school today  left with a water bottle, a light, a multi-tool or a bike computer. 



 Another cycle-centric initiative our school is taking on for the month of May is an interdisciplinary "expedition" to explore the  impacts of school transport. Monica Wright, the 8th grade science teacher asked her students to consider the following: 

  • If more people biked or walked to school, what effects might it have on the health of our children and community members
  • How much carbon dioxide pollution might we keep out of the atmosphere if fewer buses and cars were used to get kids to school? 
This project is a collaboration with the City of Bath Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee and The Bicycle Coalition of Maine. The BCM loaned the committee a temporary "pop-up" bike rack station that was placed in a prominent spot in downtown Bath. The rack is being photographed by multiple cameras once every minute to collect data on usage. The students will analyze the raw data to look for any trends related to time of day, weather, weekday vs. weekend, number of bikes parked and the length of each bike's stay. 8th grade students will present their findings to The Bath City Council at their May meeting. 


 Finally, on May 17th a group of community members will join our R4F group for a group ride to celebrate National Ride to Work Day. As the days get longer and the temperatures get warmer, the number of bikes is keeping pace. There's a lot of good bike energy leading us into a summer full of riding.

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