Life Long Skills through Physical Literacy
Our education programs are designed to develop practical life-long skills through safe cycling. Using the Ontario physical health and education curriculum our program is engaging and interactive, equipping students with new skills and cycling abilities. Ride Smart skills create safer riders and safer future drivers. The program is based on two reputable sources: CAN-Bike, the national standard for safe cycling programs, and the Guide to Ride curriculum created by Physical and Health Education Canada. Experienced instructors will be present at all Ride Smart events.
“Thank you, you changed my life!”
Over 6300+ Students have learned safe cycling skills through Ride Smart since 2015
Self-Contained
Our cycling education program is designed to minimize barriers to participation. Past experience has taught us that the success of cycling education in schools is dependent on students bringing their own bikes. Often students do not always have access to a bike in working condition, or are unable to bring their bike to school because of transportation issues.
To address this problem the Ride Smart Program has been designed to be completely self contained: we provide the bikes, helmets, instructors, resource materials and even the obstacles needed to set up different scenarios. A full class set of new bikes means that each student will use the same bike and helmet for the week. This format makes it very easy, even for teachers with little, to no cycling experience, to enroll their class in the program. We also provide a helmet and bicycle for the teacher too if they want to participate.
Program Components
Skills
Straight Line Riding
Controlled Braking
Shoulder Checks
Hand Signals
Shoulder Checks with Hand Signals
Slow Speed Slalom
Emergency Braking
High Speed Cornering
Rollers and Balance Obstacles
Games
Follow the Leader
Slowest Bicycle Race
Elimination
Adaptable
The skills portion of the program can be run either outside on the pavement, or inside the gymnasium. Supplied bicycles will have clean tires and will not mark gym floors. Teacher time commitment outside of the program is minimal requiring only the collection of registration details prior to the beginning of the program.
Who Is It For?
Ride Smart programming is designed for Grade 4 through 7 students. This age group engages well with the material and excels at learning new cycling skills. Curriculum resources to support the cycling program from Physical Health and Education Canada are available for Grades 4-6. http://www.phecanada.ca/resources/guide-to-ride
Program Length
The Ride Smart Program is based around 5 contact hours. Ideally this time is spread out over the course of a week to allow time for new riders to gain confidence and rest between practice time. This amount of time ensures that students are able to understand concepts and develop skills to a high level of competency. This format also means that up to six classes per school can participate over the one week time period.
Cycling in Ontario and the Highway Traffic Act
ride smart programs across ontario
This year, in partnership with the Ontario Provincial Police, the Ride Smart program has started travelling across the province. The map below shows the new locations for Ride Smart as well as all the schools in Hamilton that have participated since the programs launch ins 2015. (Zoom in on GTA/Hamilton area to see all the schools).
Ride Smart bikes get safety checked before programming near Armstrong, ON
