Amazing Bike-Intensive Course at Casco Bay High School

A recent example of a school going the next step to encourage safety education is Casco Bay High School (CBHS), an expeditionary learning school in Portland. CBHS runs one-week elective courses called "Intensives" twice a year. "The Bike Intensive” was a new offering held in partnership with the Bicycle Coalition of Maine and the Maine Safe Routes to School Program in the first week of January 2011.

In the winter session, 21 students were introduced to the many facets of bicycle culture (for example, roadies, commuters, bmx’ers, mountainbikers, etc) and invited to explore further the aspects that caught their interest. All students were given training in bicycle mechanics, bicycle safety, Safe Routes to School encouragment and engineering strategies, and the basics of bicycle and pedestrian planning and design. You can check out fun photos from the week!

This spring, the Casco Bay High School partnership plans another bicycle intensive week in which kids will learn basic riding, mechanical and safety skills as they prepare for a short bike tour to a local beach. Each day of the week will be completely focused on bicycling, and will include presentations on safe bicycle operation, flat repair, bike commuting, and touring. And of course, there will be daily rides that prepare participants for an easy all day tour in the beautiful Casco Bay Region on the last day!

The program is being viewed as a pilot that can be used by other schools seeking to increase student involvement in bicycling.

Posted on 1/20/2011 | Back