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| Take a look at the back "wheel." You can see the emergency handle too. |
Now I'll get into the finer details of this class. The kids ride a modified bike with a roller in place of the back wheel. The 'rear wheel' is a graduated cylinder that goes from flat, no outer curve, to convex on the ends. The kids start out at level one, which is basically a flat log with no curvature. As the kids get more stable and comfortable they switch out the roller and progress to a number seven roller. The number seven has very convex ends so it simulates a real bike wheel and all the instability of riding a real bike.
On the back of each bike there is a handle that a spotter can grab if the biker is wobbling or lilting too much. The goal is to keep their hands off the handle unless the biker absolutely needs it.
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| Back wheel and emergency handle. |
Classes run all day from 8:00am to 5:30pm. There are only eight bikers per session and each biker has two spotters. There is the program director and advisor present as well. The program host, aka douche-bag, has been there every day. I really should stop being so hard on this guy because without him this program would have totally passed Kansas City up but I swear he's a nimrod. But his heart's in the right place so I guess he's a kind nimrod none the less.
The kids spend 75 minutes on the bike riding in a big circle around the gym. Every 20 minutes or so they have to reverse directions. Heidi, the program director, takes the kids on a tandem bike and the camper sits in front. She goes pretty fast to get the kids used to higher speeds--for vestibular processing--and she said with a laugh, its fun!
So funny that you write about this..we are having our first nice day here and I'm already stressing about the bike situation. Audrey is still on a bike with training wheels that she still hasn't really mastered and is probably now way too big for. I've heard of these classes...I need to look into one for her.
ReplyDeleteThe tandem bike sounds like a lot of fun!! Love the pictures! So glad you found this. It's amazing to me that he was considered almost too young for it. I think he is just the right age. :)
ReplyDeleteVery cool, my daughter, at 15 still can't ride a two wheeler. We tried at tried and they never had bike camp when she was younger. Now, when I try to talk her into programs like this she isn't interested :(.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like such a great program, apart from the kind nimrod, of course. ;-)
ReplyDeleteThat tandem bike would be a lot of fun!
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