Initial funding came from Sustrans as part of its programme for “tackling the school run”. As well as a bunch of happy customers (see photos), premier cycling charity Sustrans was pleased with the outcomes and has awarded more money to cover development costs of a summer session.

This time the 4th to 7th of August club is open to children across Edinburgh. Already people have signed up who were part of the Easter event and others who weren’t.

If you want more info (or are ready to book a place) contact Maggie Wynn.

REPORT on successful Summer Club.

The school organised it’s first fancy dress bicycles competion and also asked ChangingPace to bring along an obstacle course and a ‘bicycle doctor’.

A brand new Cycle Club is being run in the Easter holiday. It’s for Primary 6 and 7 pupils with the aim of encouraging young people to cycle more and to think about how they will travel to secondary school.

The venue is the Royal High School and priority is being given to pupils from its feeder primaries (Blackhall, Cramond, Clermiston and Davidsons Mains).

The four day event will run from Monday 31 March to Thursday 3 April, from 9.30am to 3pm each day.

The sessions have been organised by Maggie Wynn of ChangingPace, and will be delivered by qualified cycle trainers.

The course will develop cycling and bike maintenance skills at the school and also on rides each day along Edinburgh’s cycle path network and quiet roads. Education and fun – as would be expected from the people who recently developed and delivered Bicycle Fun Days at the same primaries!

The cost for the 4 days is £50, and the children will receive a goody bag worth £10 that includes a Spokes cycle map, puncture repair kit and water bottle.

Places limited – to reserve a place call Maggie Wynn now on 0131 332 3442 or 07914 727018 or email maggieATchangingpace.info

Buy 3 bamboo canes about 9ft long (around £1 each) from Garden/DIY centres.

Cut in half. Cut a short length off four ‘uprights’ – these will become the ledges for the horizontal poles to sit on.

Fix in place with rubber bands. (Recycle the ones the posties discard!)

Then devise a system for keeping the verticals vertical. (Something heavy with a hole in.)

OR

Don’t bother – get people to hold the poles. When it’s windy the horizontals will blow off so they need to be held anyway!

They shouldn’t be fixed to the uprights as they will need to come off easily when someone’s head, shoulders or hoodie hits them!

The ‘pegs’ can be slid up or down the poles quite easily. A ‘mountain bike’ with 20″ wheels is the optimum for most primary pupils – better to be too small than too big.

Get a group of children. Have four hold the poles and the rest test their skills, then swap. These children are from Lismore Primary School.

This limbo set was made by Chris and Sam of ChangingPace and belongs to the Bingham Bicycle Club.

Several bikes needed minor gear and brake adjustments – which their owners did themselves. Hands-on tool use is a great way to learn.

One girl was particularly pleased and said: “My bike has never been as good since it was new.”

The classroom exercises went particularly well, impressing Maggie who took the class and the teacher who observed while getting on with some preparation work. She is going to set the children some homework – writing about their impressions of the Bicycle Awareness Afternoon. (Some of their words should be on this site next week.)

Paul did his tricks in the playground and passed on some skills.

“I’ve cycled to school every day since you came last week.”

“Did you do that before?”

“No.”

Of course there was always a ‘cycling ethos’ at the school. It does Cycle Training and is fortunate to have somewhere simple for helmets. The Council installed some bike racks last week, the school obviously needs some more.

One good thing about the Bicycle Awareness Afternoons is that they can be flexible.

One boy’s misfortune in having a faulty inner tube (it split at the valve when he was blowing it up), become the opportunity for a quick lesson in removing a tyre and using tyre levers.

As the photo shows, the children were enthralled.

As well as classroom activities, children who had brought bikes to school were shown how to make them more comfortable – usually by having the saddles raised.The were also given lessons in simple bike maintenance.

One teacher was heard to say; “It’s really good they are letting the children fix their own bikes.”

Head Teacher Mr. Edwards declared: “Very worthwhile. The children got a lot out of the activities and we would be happy to include these activities in our timetable next year.”

Some of the children have posted their positive responses here.

A mixture of activities is being delivered to all the P7 classes in these schools. The first session was held today in Davidsons Mains Primary.

Classroom work, using the boards on this site, was entertaining and thought provoking. The children also tried an obstacle course laid out in the playground by Scottish Cycling.

Pupils who had brought their own bikes to school were given a practical lesson in looking after their machines. Most needed the tyres blown up. Quite a few needed saddles raised – children are growing fast at this age.

Some needed small adjustments to gears and brakes for comfort, efficiency or safety reasons. The children had hands-on experience of allen keys and spanners (and the track pump). One girl used cable cutters to shorten a brake cable that had frayed and was “annoying” her. “I didn’t know you could do that”.

It’s usually simple things that encourage young people to cycle more. Hard tyres, comfortable seat height, bike handling skills, road safety awareness and some basic knowledge of maps which help them to be aware of how to get places using routes away from busy roads.

This programme is being funded by Sustrans as one of many things to encourage people to cycle more – not just to school.