The Bike Club at Reilly Elementary has been rocking and rolling it from day one. On our first day riding off campus, we biked over two miles crossing both Lamar and Airport Boulevard, two very busy intersections, to practice how to safely cross barrier streets (by walking your bike). One of our Bike Club members had just learned how to ride a bike the week before and had no trouble keeping up or picking up these new safety skills!
Every week, we ride onto Denson Drive, the street in front of the school, before heading north, east or west. We’ve had to ride on the sidewalk to stay safe but it isn’t always easy managing curbs, abandoned scooters, and cars pulling out of driveways. Over the weekend, a new all-ages all-abilities two-way protected bikeway was installed on Denson Drive from Lamar to Airport. On our ride this week, we tested out the new bikeway, excited to have it lead us safely to nearby neighborhood streets.
Testing out the new bikeway on Denson Drive.
We rode all the way to Gullett Elementary, just east of Mopac. On our route, we utilized calm neighborhood streets, protected bikeways on Arroyo Secco, and even a shared use path on Romeria near Burnet. [Link to Route]
Pausing on the shared use path on Romeria Drive across from Lamar Middle School.
A protected bikeway on Arroyo Seco. Crossing this street requires checking for cars one way and bikes on both ways which the Bike Club kids have mastered at this point.
We always ask the Bike Club to guess how long it will take us to ride back to school. So far, everyone has always overestimated the time. This week, we (including the instructors!) guessed it would take us around 40 minutes to bike back to Reilly. We were tired, there was a head wind, and the ride back has a few long, uphill streets. One of the fourth graders in the club led us most of the way and much to our disbelief, we made it back in record time: 26 minutes!
This week’s leader checking to see if his crew is still following and staying together, he’s a natural.
Riding with a bubble and in a straight line, look at these pros!
We are very proud of Bike Club and can’t wait to go on even longer, more challenging rides. During one of our google maps routing exercises, kids suggested riding to Mueller. This seemed like a long shot but these Bike Club kids have been so impressive that we’re going to make it happen for our next ride.
