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More great work by Tim Blagden (former Executive Director of the Bike-Walk Alliance of New Hampshire) and the Friends of the Concord-Lake Sunapee Rail Trail.

As a result of a partnership among the following organizations: Friends of the Concord-Lake Sunapee Rail Trail, Town of Warner, Warner Police Department, Central New Hampshire Bike Coalition, Bike-Walk Alliance of NH, and Cyr Lumber, a learn-to-bike program is launching throughout the Kearsarge regional school district (SAU 65).

All 7 towns included in that district (Bradford, Newbury, New London, Sutton, Springfield, Warner, and Wilmot) will be implementing a learn-to-bike program for kindergarten and first graders.

The program includes a fleet of strider bikes (also referred to as balance bikes) used to teach very young children basic bicycling skills.

Strider bikes start out having no pedals and a lowered seat height. Riders propel and balance themselves using their feet on the ground. The bikes allow young children to learn basic bike balancing, propulsion, momentum, breaking and steering, without the added complication of learning pedaling, which comes later, as the child develops.

“Strider” is a brand name of one of the companies that makes balance bikes. Strider is unique in making bikes with 14” tires and having the conversion kit which allows pedals and a chain to be added to their bikes. Strider is affiliated with AllKidsBike.org.

The fleet of bikes being deployed by the Kearsarge District consists of ten balance bikes with 12” wheels, ten convertible Strider bikes with 14” wheels, and ten pedal bikes with 16” wheels. The Strider bikes can be converted from balance bikes to pedal bikes easily.  The variety of sizes will accommodate the range of students in kindergarten and first grade.

The Kearsarge school district’s Physical Education (PE) department will be teaching kindergarten and first graders basic biking skills as part of their physical education curriculum.

In addition to the bike fleet, the program also provided bike storage racks, a pump, a multitool, and storage bins. The bike storage racks were built by the PE teacher based on a design found online.  Bike-Walk Alliance is providing training for the district’s PE teachers, and also provided bike helmets and bicycle safety coloring books.

The community is incredibly grateful to all the organizations and individuals who helped make this program possible.  Bike-Walk Alliance is evaluating ways to distribute this model program statewide.  Please reach out if you are interested in participating in this effort.

More info:

Strider Bikes

5 Reasons Balance Bikes Help Kids Learn To Bike

AllKidsBike.org