ROCHESTER — While some kindergartners were simply screaming with glee as they rode their bikes around the Overland Elementary School gym on Monday, one student decided his new riding skills needed a proper soundtrack instead:
"I believe I can fly," he sang, reciting the hit song from the movie "Space Jam." "I believe I can touch the sky."
Whether screaming or singing, the students were riding a fleet of 24 bicycles that Rochester Public Schools purchased with a grant from the Olmsted County Bridge Collaborative in partnership with the All Kids Bike Program. The goal of the initiative is to help students learn a skill that will keep them active and help them be able to commute to school.
"What we were noticing was that students were getting to fourth, fifth, sixth grade not knowing how to ride a bike," said Dustin Morrow, RPS student services program coordinator. "It's hard to ask a sixth grader to bike to school if they don't know how."
According to a statement from RPS, the bikes are known as "pedal conversion bikes." That means that the school was able to remove the pedals altogether and simply have posts for the students to rest their feet on once they get the bike moving.
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Although that may sound counterintuitive, Overland Elementary PE Teacher Lucas Fisher was teaching the students how to simply glide on the bikes after pushing themselves forward with their feet. In other words, they were trying to teach students how to simply balance before moving on to the concept of pedaling.
Fisher took an initial ride around a series of cones on the gym floor, showing students what route to take. From there, the group of students started circling around the room — screaming, singing, and occasionally taking a spill.
Overland Assistant Principal Katie Schafer said teaching kids how to bike not only helps them learn about things like coordination and balance, but also the grit and perseverance of being able to get back up after they fall down.
"It just has so many benefits all around," Schafer said.
Although many of the students were learning how to ride for the first time, one student, Albert, was so experienced it almost appeared beyond belief.
When asked how old he was, he said he was 5. When asked how long he had been able to ride bike, he replied: "For like about 10 years."
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