Wheels on wheels

Bringing bikes to the children.

Intro

Wheels on Wheels is our cheeky name for the school-based cycling instruction program we started in the spring of 2021. We bring our trailer full of bikes to eight different local elementary schools, introducing K-3 students to basic bike skills and safety.

Background

After selling off our mountain bike rental fleet in the spring of 2020 and subsequently finding it impossible to replace it (thanks, COVID19 bike boom!), we were left scratching our heads as to how to continue our work introducing school kids to mountain biking.

Prior to 2020 we had relied on schools coming to the Center to ride with our crew of coaches. But without properly sized bikes for visiting students to ride, we couldn’t continue that model. Luckily kids bikes were not quite as impacted by the pandemic, so we were able to purchase a fleet of 16” bikes from our partners at Cannondale. We loaded the bikes and a whole mess of helmets into our repurposed wax trailer and hit the road, working with students at Wolcott Elementary School, Glover Community School, Albany Community School, and our local Craftsbury Academy.

Working with early elementary school students means catering to a wide range of experience. Our instructors can teach brand new riders how to pedal, they can ween kids off training wheels, and they can develop the skills of more experienced riders.

Approach and Methodology

The Wheels on Wheels curriculum, if one can call it that, is a mix of Professional Mountain Bike Instructors Association (PMBIA) training, the Sprockids program developed by Doug Detweiler, and the coaches’ years of experience in cross country skiing. We try to meet students at their level, tailoring things around fun development, as opposed to a checklist of skills. Ultimately we want kids to pass through the program more comfortable on their bikes, ideally capable of pedaling on their own, turning and descending safely, and knowing how to maneuver in off-road terrain. Whether that means shredding singletrack or just pedaling around cones in a field doesn’t ultimately matter, it’s the experience and exposure to a lifelong activity that is important.

Partners and Supporters

The Wheels on Wheels program is the brainchild of the Outdoor Center’s mountain bike program director, Ollie Burruss. Ollie first came to the Center in college to race ski events. He returned in 2009 as a member of the first cohort of Green Racing Project skiers. He returned to work at the Center in 2015 and slowly started developing more bike programming in addition to coaching skiing and organizing race events.

The program could not happen without huge help from Outdoor Center coaches Audrey Mangan and Jake Barton, as well as junior skiing head coach Anna Schulz, and members of the Green Racing Project ski team.

Wheels on Wheels would not exist without the support of the Outdoor Center and Concept2, our generous benefactors in Morrisville. In addition we have enjoyed support from the Northern Forest Center and its Bike the Borderlands mountain bike coalition, as well as our industry partners Cannondale and Kona.

Schools

Right now the current line up of schools participating in the Wheels on Wheels program are:

  • Albany Community School

  • Craftsbury Academy

  • Glover Community School

  • Hardwick Elementary School

  • Irasburg Village School

  • Lakeview Elementary (Greensboro)

  • Orleans Elementary School

  • Wolcott Elementary School

Get in touch

Interested in more info about Wheels on Wheels? Want to support our program? Email us.