Students offered bike lessons in forest

Kaitao Middle School teacher Jayne Hendricks and student Zeb Irvine are excited about Share the Ride in Schools . Photo / Ben Fraser

Students at a Rotorua school will soon be getting familiar with the forest.

The entire Kaitao Middle School student body, about 350 students, will participate in mountain bike sessions run by Mountain Bike Rotorua as part of a programme called Share the Ride in Schools, which begins on Wednesday.

Tak Mutu from Mountain Bike Rotorua came up with the idea after being approached by an international initiative called Pink Bike Share the Ride, which provides economically disadvantaged youth with mountain bikes.

Share the Ride in Schools will teach the students forest etiquette and mountain bike skills, using bikes provided by Mountain Bike Rotorua over eight sessions.

"We plan to be finishing up by Crankworx. We are bringing out groups of 15 to 20 students at a time to get on and have a two-hour session in the forest, where they will learn a number of skills in the forest."

Kaitao Middle School teacher Jayne Hendricks is organising the students for the programme.

"It is great to get them out in the forest and appreciating what we have in our back yard, and it's a wicked opportunity."

Mr Mutu and Rotorua in Gear are working with Pink Bike Share the Ride, Sport Bay of Plenty and the Police Youth Offending Team, and have identified 10 at-risk Rotorua youth to gift mountain bikes to.

The 10 youths will have 10 sessions in the forest where they will learn how to trail ride, etiquette, and how to maintain bicycles.

At the end of the programme they will be given new 2015 Giant Talon bicycles, provided by Pink Bike.

"I thought we could take that to another level, not just give it to them, but actually get people using the bikes.

"I like the idea of targeting underprivileged kids and not just giving them the bikes but the tools to start mountain biking themselves. We actually run it with 10 sessions in which kids have to attend 80 per cent of them and one of their parents or guardian has to come to each session.

"If we get family involved, that's really key for getting people more active and learn about our forest," Mr Mutu said.

Rotorua in Gear co-ordinator Mark Leishman said the biggest thing he wanted the kids to learn was confidence on a bike.