When you pass a group of kids on bicycles, it’s hard not to smile — there’s something innately joyful about the sight. There’s also an underlying assumption that everything about the act, from the socialization to the time spent outdoors engaged in physical activity, is good for them. New research affirms that gut feeling.

Published on October 12, 2023, in Frontier in Sports and Active Living, a new study from researchers at Loma Linda University (LLU) reveals the positive impact of cycling education on the psychosocial well-being of students. The research is the result of a collaboration between LLU and the youth cycling nonprofit Outride, examining the impact of Outride’s in-school cycling programs on the mental health of middle schoolers. 

"Our findings were incredibly encouraging,” says Dr. Sean Wilson, LLU professor and senior author of the study. “A large proportion of students had a positive learning experience and continued interest in cycling,” 

“As a learning organization, we really want to understand how bicycling can improve the lives of youth in their communities,” says Dr. Esther Walker, senior research manager at Outride. 

Anonymous surveys were collected before and after the program in 20 schools in North America, with psychosocial well-being quantified using the WHO-5 Well-Being Index and the Pediatric Symptom Checklist (PSC-17-Y). The former is a short, five-item, self-report questionnaire that assesses positive well-being and primarily assesses for depression, while the latter is a widely used measure of psychosocial functioning, with lower scores representing greater well-being. According to the study, participation in R4F was associated with improved psychosocial well-being among middle school youth in the United States. 

“It was really encouraging to see such a positive student response to a cycling-specific physical education program,” says Fletcher Dementyev, a research fellow at LLU and first author of the paper. “This result motivates us, and hopefully others, to continue investigating and developing cycling as a pathway to improved health and well-being in adolescents.”

“By providing access to bikes, a safe environment to learn to ride, and the confidence to ride independently, we can really help to create healthy pathways,” says Walker. “As youth are facing worrying levels of physical inactivity and mental health challenges, finding those activities that get them excited to participate is really important.”

PeopleForBikes’ 2022 Bicycling Participation Report reflects this trend: While 49% of youth ages 3-17 rode a bicycle at least once in 2022, ridership among younger Americans has continued to drop since 2016.

“Our program data shows that access to bikes at home, as well as safe places to ride, is not equitable across the student population,” said Walker, noting that programs like R4F, which take place during the school day and provide all necessary materials, gives everyone the opportunity to learn a skill they can use throughout their life. "While bicycling can certainly contribute positively to one's day-to-day life, to see large-scale improvements, we need changes in policy and reductions in systematic disparities in access to nutrition, health services, safe environments, and beyond.”

As school systems, educators, policymakers, and healthcare professionals work together to address the mental health challenges facing today's youth, this study provides valuable insights into the potential of cycling programs to enhance the mental well-being of young people across the U.S. University-backed research is showing the benefits that come along with getting more kids on bikes. Communities should listen.  

Interested in learning more? Follow Outride on Instagram and Facebook to stay up-to-date with their work to improve the well-being of youth through research-backed cycling programs.

Research Highlights the Positive Impact of In-School Cycling

PeopleForBikes is pleased to announce the award of a three-year grant from The JPB Foundation to support the Better Bike Share Partnership (BBSP), a national collaboration focused on improving social and racial equity in shared micromobility systems across the United States. Better Bike Share Partners — the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Transportation, Infrastructure, and Sustainability (OTIS); the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO); and PeopleForBikes — will carry out this work together.

“Shared micromobility means more options for people in need of reliable transportation,” says Tangier Barnes-Wright, PeopleForBikes’ senior partnership and program manager. “When done equitably, it results in significant social, health, economic, and sustainability benefits for lower-income and BIPOC communities. I am excited to continue our support of organizations that are breaking down barriers to using shared micromobility for these groups.”

This is the fifth grant supporting the work of the Better Bike Share Partnership since its inception in 2014. The new funding will assist a second round of Living Lab grantees, which will address barriers preventing the use of shared micromobility in low-income and BIPOC communities nationwide. Grant funds will also finance the Transportation Justice Fellowship to continue supporting professional development for people of color working in the transportation field, as well as NACTO’s shared micromobility roundtable, mini-grants, and a robust storytelling platform.

“Over the last nine years, the Better Bike Share Partnership has been instrumental in addressing issues of equity, access, diversity, inclusion, and justice in the shared micromobility industry. Through grants, research projects, written guidance, presentations, and technical assistance support, BBSP has helped cities and operators implement bike and scooter systems that help folks travel to much-needed resources,” says Waffiyah Murray, Indego program manager at OTIS. “The City of Philadelphia is honored to be a partner in this work, serving as a living example of how BBSP best practices are successful when implemented in an intentional and meaningful way.”

“With more than a half-billion trips in the U.S. since 2010, shared micromobility is an important and growing transportation option in hundreds of cities across North America,” said Cary Bearn, senior program manager for biking at NACTO. “Because of the Better Bike Share Partnership, equity is a central part of the conversation about shared micromobility. NACTO is excited to continue collaborating with PeopleForBikes and the City of Philadelphia for another three years to support cities and operators in making sure these popular systems are equitably serving low-income areas and communities of color.”

The Better Bike Share Partnership plans on disseminating final reports for its first Living Labs cohort by the end of the year. Applications for the new cohort will open in early 2024. In the meantime, the partnership is working with the North American Bikeshare and Scootershare Association (NABSA) to revamp its Workforce Diversity Toolkit. BBSP will also continue to cover the work of its current grantees, as well as relevant research in the shared micromobility space at www.betterbikeshare.org.


About the Better Bike Share Partnership
The Better Bike Share Partnership is a collaboration funded by The JPB Foundation to increase access to and the use of shared micromobility systems in low-income and BIPOC communities. The partners include The City of Philadelphia, the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO), and PeopleForBikes. Learn more at BetterBikeShare.org.

PeopleForBikes is the U.S. bicycle industry’s trade association and a national advocacy nonprofit representing more than 325 bicycle industry supplier members and nearly 1.4 million individuals. Through our three areas of influence — infrastructure, policy, and participation — we accelerate the construction of safe, fun, and connected places to bike; advance pro-bike and pro-bike-business legislation; and reduce barriers to access and welcome more people to the joys of riding a bike. Our goal: Become the best place to ride a bike in the world. Join us at PeopleForBikes.org.

About the National Association of City Transportation Officials

NACTO is an association of 96 major North American cities and transit agencies formed to exchange transportation ideas, insights, and practices and cooperatively approach national transportation issues. The organization’s mission is to build cities as places for people, with safe, sustainable, accessible, and equitable transportation choices that support a strong economy and vibrant quality of life. Learn more at NACTO.org.

PeopleForBikes Receives Grant to Keep Shared Micromobility Equitable

On any given Wednesday during the school year, you can find a pack of more than 150 kids bicycling to Alameda Elementary School in Portland, Oregon. The bike bus, as it's known, represents roughly 33% of the entire school and according to parents and onlookers, it’s a joy-filled, active transportation event that you can’t help but want to be a part of. In their free time, kids practice their bike skills to participate and on Wednesday mornings, they rally their parents to be on time.

This particular bike bus is the brainchild of Sam Balto, or Coach Balto to his students, a physical education teacher and safe streets advocate that leads the charge in a neon vest with pop music blasting alongside him. Passionate about safety and the well-being of our youth, Balto started his teaching career in Boston in 2015. That same year, he launched his first walking school bus, leading a group of ten kids along a route to school. He’s been passionate about Safe Routes to School and active transportation “buses” ever since.

“After that day, I saw the joy of kids walking to school and how different that was than all other days,” says Balto, noting the immediate behavioral change the students underwent. “I also realized that relying on volunteers [to run the buses] is not a sustainable or equitable model.”

When Balto moved to Portland, he started another walking school bus, again taking note of how successful it was but also what a great need there was for volunteers and other forms of institutional support. When the pandemic hit — accompanied by bus driver shortages and a desire to stay outdoors — bike buses took off around the world, with viral videos surfacing in Barcelona, San Francisco, and even nearby Hood River, Oregon. Inspired, Balto decided to form a bike bus for Earth Day 2022.

“We started with 75 kids and one route,” says Balto. “It was a huge success and we decided to keep doing it, so I reached out to parent volunteers to see if they could keep doing it for the rest of the year.”

Volunteers are a crucial part of any walking or bicycling school bus, as they help ensure the bus stays together, everyone moves safely, and that cars keep their distance. Once the parent volunteers assured Balto they were on board, the bike bus began to grow, adding another route and a bigger catchment zone to make it easier for kids and families to join. That first year, the bus grew from 75 to 120 kids in just six weeks.

“Because it was being done consistently, families were able to plan for it,” says Balto, noting that a weekly activity helps justify a parent’s investment from a time and monetary perspective. “Kids were asking for new bikes so that they could join.”

In 2023, the bike bus became a year-round weekly institution and has only been canceled once due to weather (and in that instance, it became a walking school bus). As a whole, Portland’s bike infrastructure is relatively good and the bus route primarily traverses low-stress neighborhood greenways. The element of critical mass and again, its predictability, have helped keep students safe and area residents prepared. In fact, most neighbors come out and cheer the students on.

For Balto, as with many volunteers that participate in bike buses, the outcomes make the effort worthwhile. Not only do parents report that kids look forward to school more on bike bus mornings, but they also share how bike buses help make everyone in the household more physically active. Others note how active transportation buses can help reduce truancy and increase focus and confidence amongst its participants, something that supports outcomes from research done by Outride on youth bicycling. 

“The biggest thing is just the joy that the kids have,” says Balto. “Not every kid will be on a sports team and have that experience, but the bike bus is like a team where everyone plays an important role.”

Coming out of the pandemic, parents have also really loved seeing their kids be a part of a community. The bike bus is not only a way for their kids to be active but also ensures they’re part of something bigger than themselves. When compared to driving your child to school — a largely solitary act that does little to get them excited for the day ahead — the bike bus always wins. Even with so many parents on board, however, Balto has long recognized the need to pay them for their time. 

Transportation funding, unfortunately, isn’t as flexible as many Safe Routes to School advocates (Balto among them) would like it to be. When Balto and others started looking into how they might reallocate unused funding to financially support and grow the bike bus movement, they realized they were up against tremendous barriers. To grow the movement and make it more equitable, the system would need to change. Introducing a state bill made the most sense.

Thanks to the videos Balto posted on Twitter and the attention his efforts were garnering nationally, he was able to connect with more experienced politicos. They in turn connected him with Representative Khanh Pham, who represents District 46 on Portland’s outer southeast side. When Blato and Rep. Pham met in September 2022, she was immediately receptive, agreeing on the spot to write a bill that would bring more flexibility to student transportation funds.

“Passing legislation to make it easier for students to bike, walk, and take transit to school is an initiative that solves so many overlapping challenges,” says Rep. Pham. “It's a public health initiative, it’s education policy, it's climate action, and ultimately it's community building by encouraging neighbors, parents, and students to spend time together.”

Coincidentally, another Oregon legislator, Representative Hoa Nguyen, whose district borders Rep. Pham’s, wrote an almost identical bill. Having been an attendant at her school, Rep. Nguyen saw firsthand how a walking school bus led to a 30% increase in student attendance. Nguyen also noted how teachers saw a significant decrease in disruptive classroom behavior from students, largely because they were able to expend some energy on their morning walk to school.

The legislators joined forces and ultimately decided to call their combined bill (HB 3014) the “Bike Bus Bill.” The bill itself is relatively basic: If passed, school districts across Oregon will have more flexibility with how they spend their state transportation dollars, letting them organize things like bike buses and walking school buses in addition to traditional buses and carpool lines. 

"Currently, these funds can only be used for traditional yellow school buses or in some cases, school-owned vans," says Rep. Nguyen. "But that isn’t always the best option for all students. With the passage of HB 3014, districts will be able to request reimbursement  for alternative transportation options like crossing guards or coordinators to lead walk and bike buses."

The bill would have the greatest impact on those households that don’t own a vehicle and that live close to their schools — too close for a bus route — but face dangerous obstacles in traveling safely.

The “Bike Bus Bill” will make it easier to organize bike buses and pay the volunteers that are indispensable to their success. (Photo credit: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

Last month, when the Oregon House Committee on Education held a hearing for the bill, Reps. Pham and Nguyen, Balto, and some 27 other advocates, students, and parents showed up to give live testimony in support of the bill. Rep. Pham drew attention to the “epidemic of traffic violence” our students, especially those from lower-income communities, are facing every day and how the bill would help them safely cross short-but-dangerous distances to get to school. Others pointed out that owning and maintaining a car is out of reach for many and how active transportation solutions can help cities meet their carbon reduction targets. 

“The first time I rode the bike bus I was overcome with a sense of community. I felt like I was biking on an ocean of joy. Every student should be able to feel what I did,” said Alameda Elementary student Isla, speaking at the hearing. “Safe Routes to School programming and investments are a cost-effective game-changer for reducing daily driving…the passage of HB 3014 will improve the climate and encourage people to get active.”

For Balto, the bill is a testament to the creative possibility bikes can offer and the power of community-led initiatives. “[The bill] is about providing a more direct service to school communities,” says Balto. “It breaks through the noise and is all about the joy of children.”

The Bike Bus Bill continues to progress through the Oregon legislature — a work session is currently scheduled for the end of the month and it's hard to say when, if at all, the bill will become law. Whether it does or not, Balto will continue leading his bike bus every Wednesday and supporting others who want to emulate his efforts in their own communities. 

“I don’t have a choice but to keep going — when kids want these things and are advocating for them, that’s student-led education,” says Balto. “They’re the ones picking what they want to see and do and we should all capitalize on that and support it.”

Mention Flint, Michigan, and many immediately think of the Flint water crisis, a human-made public health emergency caused by dangerous levels of lead in the local water. Before that, it was known as the birthplace of General Motors, then later for experiencing substantial economic decline when several of the company’s auto plants closed in the ‘90s. For Chad Schlosser, however, who has deep roots in the area, Flint never lost its appeal as a great place to live. He moved to the city’s Mott Park neighborhood for its safe, affordable, and family-friendly appeal.

“My grandmother grew up in this neighborhood in the 1920s, and it was such a magical, fun place to be,” says Schlosser, who has three kids in elementary school and currently serves as President of the Mott Park Association. “I want kids to keep feeling that.”

The Mott Park Association was founded in large part to help neighbors take care of Mott Park, a centrally located, almost 100-year-old park that was built with three tennis courts at its heart. As the city changed, becoming less affluent, much of it fell into disrepair. Around 15 years ago, Flint essentially abandoned all of its parks and recreation, making maintenance largely dependent on a fleet of volunteers. At Mott Park, Schlosser and other volunteers kept the park alive with the help of local group Keep Genesee County Beautiful. They often found themselves raking leaves from crumbling tennis courts that never got used, slowly envisioning what the space could be.

“Tennis is seen as an affluent, white sport,” says Schlosser, noting that Flint is a majority-minority community. “Not that people with melanin can’t play tennis — we just wanted to diversify our offerings to better suit the community.”

The Mott Park Association’s former president and Nancy Edwards, the recreation programs and grants officer at Keep Genesee County Beautiful, came up with the idea of converting one of the tennis courts into a bike park or bike garden, essentially a designated area for children to learn how to bike and play. To gauge resident interest, the association sent around a poll in 2019 proposing different ideas, including one for a basketball court. While most people felt anything positive would be great, the bicycle park got the most support.

“No one was against the bicycle park,” says Schlosser. “Some folks were indifferent, so didn’t donate, but no one was actively against it.”

In 2020, the Mott Park Association started working alongside Keep Genesee Beautiful to begin fundraising. As part of that effort, they applied for a PeopleForBikes’ community grant, which was awarded in June 2021. More Michigan-based organizations signed on to support the project and with funding secured, the association began to plan the bike park. For the park’s design, they chose to work with the Flint Public Art Project, a local public arts organization best known for murals throughout the city (it completed some 120 in the span of five years). Importantly, the artist ultimately chosen to commission the piece, Mike Cobley, was a Flint native.

Flint native Mike Cobley was chosen to design and install the bike park's surface mural.

“We wanted to include Flint landmarks in the piece and a lot of the things Mike drew are well-known in our city,” says Schlosser, listing the library, farmer’s market, and stadium to name a few. “He even put Mott Park in it. The idea was that kids would be able to ride around and have fun seeing themselves in Flint.”

To ensure it was long-lasting, the park required new asphalt and paint that could withstand all seasons of weather. A local asphalt company resurfaced the tennis court in late summer before Cobley and an assistant came in and beautified it. The bike park had its grand opening on October 18, 2022, with the mayor and Mott Park’s local councilperson in attendance. While the fall weather meant that the court will likely not be used to its fullest until the upcoming spring and summer, the neighborhood kids already love it.

“We had about probably 50 or 60 people down there for the grand opening,” says Schlosser, noting that kids can use bikes, scooters, and roller skates in the park (basically, anything without a motor). “It’s winter now, so there’s not a lot of use, but springtime is a great time for learning to ride bikes.”

Neighborhood kids have already begun using the bike park, which offers a safe, beautiful area for them to learn and play.

There are no sidewalks in the park itself and those in the surrounding area are in poor condition. The new bicycle garden offers a safe place where children can feel free to learn and play, developing an early relationship with bikes that will hopefully carry through to adulthood. While the project hit a few hiccups (most related to the rising cost of materials with inflation), Schlosser is proud to have taken a community-driven idea and seen it through to something beautiful that everyone can be proud of.

“I don’t want our kids to grow up and think, ‘Flint was rough but I survived,’” says Schlosser. “I want them to feel that this is an awesome place to grow up with some beautiful green spaces and fun activities. The bike park is helping people to see that Mott Park is a great place to live.”

PeopleForBikes, a national bicycling advocacy organization, and the U.S. bicycle industry’s trade association announced its latest round of community grants totaling $92,000. The 11 projects funded in 2022 will support bicycle infrastructure and advocacy projects across the U.S. 

PeopleForBikes’ Industry Community Grants Program is funded through the Employee Pro Purchase program, which collects donations from individuals who work in the bike industry and take advantage of pro-pricing discounts on new bikes and bicycling equipment. Cannondale and Trek currently participate. 

Since 1999, the PeopleForBikes Industry Community Grants Program has funded more than 400 projects in all 50 states totaling more than $3.6 million in direct funds. The total funding this year represents more than 1,000 individuals in the bike industry who gave back to grow bicycling through an employee pro purchase. 

“Seeing the industry come together to support community grants big and small continues to be incredibly inspiring,” said Jenn Dice, president and CEO of PeopleForBikes. “We thank the companies and thousands of employees that contribute to this important program. These projects will make a tangible difference in 11 communities while aiding our larger mission of getting more people on bikes more often and making biking better for everyone.” 

The Center of Southwest Culture
Albuquerque, NM 

This grant will support Story Riders, a program at The Center of Southwest Culture, Inc. that empowers Indigenous and Latino youth to reconnect with their natural and cultural heritage, all while providing practical training in bicycle safety, maintenance, and guided cycling experiences. Each student will take home the bike they work on and a new helmet. 

BikeHouston will use the funding to launch Gear Shifters, an advocacy training program for BikeHouston staff and volunteers. Gear Shifters will expand and enhance advocacy efforts by representing the needs of people who ride bikes at public meetings, as well as in conversations with elected officials, community groups, and developers.

Bike Works Seattle’s mission is to promote the bicycle as a vehicle for change and a tool for building resilient communities. This grant will be used for general operating support, more than 80% of which will go directly to youth, adult, community, and environmental cycling programs and services. 

Trails Utah will use this grant to launch a pilot project to modify existing trails with the specific goal of accommodating adaptive mountain bikers. Funds will be used to purchase equipment and signage, as well as pay for physical trail work by the Utah Conservation Corps.

Trailnet works to foster healthy, active, and vibrant communities where walking, bicycling, and the use of public transit is a way of life. Funding will help accelerate the installation of safer mobility networks in St. Louis by focusing on high-crash corridors, which are predominantly in Black and underserved communities. 

The Red Line Parkway Initiative empowers diverse communities to enjoy, develop, and enhance the Red Line Trail and Parkway, a 32-mile, multimodal rails-with-trails project. Grant funds will support a portion of 2023 engagement activities with an emphasis on social equity and physical and mental health. 

Girls in Gear teaches life skills through bike skills to help young female riders build confidence on and off their bikes. Funding will be used for coach training and support, as well as program supplies, to ensure every girl has the chance to safely and confidently bike through life.

Community Action Duluth’s BikePlus program provides those recently released from incarceration with a free bicycle, helmet, and bike lock. This grant will allow Community Action Duluth to continue its efforts and reach more people in need. 

This grant will fund bikepacking trips for those in Deaf community in the Mid-Atlantic region, offering environmental education, leadership training, and essential bicycle maintenance. Funds will also be used to provide a day trip for groups to a gravel or mountain biking trail, allowing for local community connections.

With this grant, Salem Bike Vision (SBV) will host three community rides in 2023, working to educate the public about what makes for effective bike infrastructure and helping identify areas where safety is lacking. The organization will also engage local decision-makers around opportunities to use the city’s recently passed bond for safe bike infrastructure.

Dunn Gardens will use funding to purchase and install two bike racks, which will allow for more car-free commuting and send a welcoming message to the many visitors in the neighborhood who rely on bicycles for transportation. 

PeopleForBikes Announces 2022 Industry Community Grant Recipients

In Tulsa, Oklahoma, a local bike club is going beyond just teaching kids to ride bikes in school, working to also build safe, inclusive, accessible bicycling infrastructure.

“Fifteen years ago, we could have just come out of the gate saying, ‘Dear Mayor, please build 50 miles of bike lanes,’ and city officials would've probably turned around and said, ‘For who?’” says Jason Whorton, executive director and co-founder of Bike Club Tulsa. “So Bike Club Tulsa said ‘Okay, let's work on increasing ridership and exposure to get more kids on bikes.’” 

The club’s decision-makers thought about how they might have the largest impact and settled on targeting the 33,000 kids in Tulsa Public Schools. In 2014, Bike Club Tulsa launched its first after-school program.

“Fast forward to now, we're operating bike clubs in 29 Tulsa public schools, running 12 in-school bicycle education PE programs, and building safe places for our kids to get out and ride,” says Mike Wozniak, program manager at Bike Club Tulsa.

Bike Club Tulsa also uses Project Bike Tech’s bicycle mechanic curriculum to teach science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to students at a local high school. Plus, the club operates a local National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) mountain bike team, organizes pop-up community bike repairs, leads bicycle classes for adults, and is a key player in implementing adaptive bicycling opportunities across the city. Bike Club’s curriculum is also being used in cities and towns outside the Tulsa metro area.  

Bike Club Tulsa’s impact and student reach has expanded as a direct result of implementing its in-school bicycle education programming. Each after-school program engages roughly 20 fifth-grade or middle-school students for weekly meet-ups and rides. The club works on bicycling skills, life skills, and STEM learning in the fall, while the spring is focused on off-campus rides in the community. The after-school programming currently reaches about 475 students and the in-school PE curriculum — taught to all third-grade students at select partner elementary schools — will hit more than 700 participants by the end of the 2022-23 school year. 

“Every third-grader at that school site gets a four-lesson skill and safety curriculum,” says Wozniak. “We're teaching a lot of kids how to ride bikes.” 

After conducting extensive research and looking at a variety of programs across the country, Bike Club Tulsa developed its own curriculum.

“We took those concepts taught in other curriculums and put our spin on them,” says Whorton. “We use custom photography, videos, equipment, and local students to put an urban spin on cycling education.”

Using its custom curriculum and local influence, Bike Club Tulsa is working hard to break down barriers to bicycle access and participation in the city. The organization is working closely with the school district to implement more clubs, which is crucial considering the number of Title 1 schools and kids on free and reduced-price meals (both are used as indicators for low-income, marginalized communities). Importantly, thanks to community donations, Bike Club Tulsa is able to provide all its programming and equipment at zero cost. 

“Every school has about 30 bikes, 20-25 youth bikes and five adult bikes for volunteers,” says Whorton, adding that all of the kids that graduate from Bike Club Tulsa also earn a bike. “We give them a bike, helmet, safety vest, gloves, high-visibility t-shirt, and a water bottle — all of this well-earned swag.” 

While the cost of bicycle equipment is a barrier for many low-income youth bicycling, it’s not the only one. In the U.S., adult women ride bikes less than adult men for both transportation and recreational purposes, and gender parity is something Bike Club Tulsa explicitly aims for: Bike Club Tulsa’s participation rates are about 50% male and 50% female. 

“[Our demographics] also mirror the breakdown of the school district ethnicity, which is currently one-third white, Black, and Hispanic,” says Whorton. “It’s very important for us that we represent the makeup of students that the district serves.” 

Many of Bike Club Tulsa’s students are also completely new to bicycling. “In one of our PE classes, 17 out of 25 kids didn't know how to ride,” says Whorton. “We really feel that what we're doing here is teaching a lifelong lesson around something that promotes health and wellness.” 

In fact, improving community health outcomes bicycling is another central component of Bike Club’s work. Oklahoma kids have some of the highest rates of adverse childhood experiences (ACE) in the country and many have three or more ACEs, higher than most other states in the country. 

“We know the best way to combat that, to compensate for that, is mentorship,” says Wozniak. “You see all this activity on a bike, but it's also a vehicle for mentorship.” 

Mentorship and the creation of safe, stable, nurturing relationships in families and communities is a key component of ACE prevention and another focus of Bike Club Tulsa, which works hard to ensure that program mentors represent the backgrounds of the kids they work with.

Underlying all of its other work is Bike Club Tulsa’s efforts to develop and advocate for accessible places to ride in close proximity to student’s schools and homes. Tulsa Bike Club’s most recent bike park project, Bales Park Trails, was constructed next to a Tulsa Housing Authority project, where the club also gave many residents free bikes. 

In order to remain inclusive, Bike Club Tulsa makes sure that the trails they build are rated for adaptive use. Lubell Park Trails, another Bike Club project, is Oklahoma’s first purpose-built adaptive mountain bike trail (aMTB), with Bales Park Trails also being designed intentionally for aMTBs. 


Bales Park Trails and adaptive mountain bike riders. (Photo credit: Damon's Droneography and Melissa Lukenbaugh)

“We have three and a half miles of inclusive trail out there,” says Whorton, noting that they’d just received an adaptive mountain bike report from Jeremy McGhee, an authority in the space. “We want the trails we’re developing to be fun for all ages and abilities — we want them to be interesting and challenging, but we also want them to be inclusive.”

Financial barriers to adaptive bicycling are challenges Bike Club Tulsa is addressing alongside the need for inclusive infrastructure. Through a grant from the Sanford & Irene Burnstein Foundation, the club was able to purchase adaptive mountain bikes for local use. The organization also has a collaboration with The Center for Individuals with Physical Challenges that includes weekly rides with their clients on these adaptive trails.

Bike Club Tulsa helps drive Oklahoma bicycle culture and its emphasis on inclusivity doesn’t go unnoticed. The group has also built strong relationships with bike shops in Tulsa and conducts regular bike repair pop-up shops throughout the city. 

“We do community popups where we'll bring out our staff, stands, and tools and we'll service bikes in Tulsa Housing Authority projects, in schools or parks, and YMCAs,” says Whorton. “We go to the people, working on bikes for free to keep them running and keep the kids active.” 

After almost a decade of operation, Bike Club Tulsa has built community trust by delivering on its promises to the Tulsa Public School district and the community at large, drafting a blueprint that can resonate in any community across the country.

Do you know a youth organization in your community that’s supporting youth bicycling? The 2023 Outride Fund Application Cycle opens on January 6, 2023.


Building Inclusive Bicycling at School and Beyond

Topics

First Time Bikers

PeopleForBikes at Work on First Time Bikers

News

Research Highlights the Positive Impact of In-School Cycling

PeopleForBikes Receives Grant to Keep Shared Micromobility Equitable

How a Bike Bus Inspired a State Bill

A Bicycle Garden Grows in Michigan

PeopleForBikes Announces 2022 Industry Community Grant Recipients

Building Inclusive Bicycling at School and Beyond