Informed Cyclist Program | When school gets young people pedaling

Saddled up on his bike, his helmet on his head, young Thomas Hanco Latreille enters the courtyard of the Saint-Benoît school, in the Ahuntsic district of Montreal. Surrounded by other children on bicycles, physical education teacher Nicolas Tauvry welcomes him warmly.

“Did everything go well?” he asks.

On this Thursday morning in May, the young people of 5^e year of the Saint-Benoît school take their road assessment of the Cycliste averti program. A Vélo Québec initiative that aims to teach children in the province to ride safely and independently in their environment. Each year, 6,600 Quebec students are reached by this program.

Magali Brebonne, Program Director at Vélo Québec, explains that the goal of the Cycliste averti training is not to turn them into racing cyclists, “but to teach children how to ride their bikes safely in their neighbourhood.” For young people living in urban areas, this means learning to be wary of carpools or how to navigate one-way streets, for example. In suburban or rural areas, the teaching is adapted to the realities, explains M.^me Brebonne.

At Saint-Benoît school, students received six hours of classroom lessons in March, where they learned theoretical concepts such as blind spots, traffic signs and the technique for making a left turn. This was followed by practical lessons where the young people learned how to change gears, brake with two hands and control a bike with one hand while signaling with the other. This practical teaching was integrated into physical education classes by Mr. Tauvry. Believing that it is “important for children to learn to ride a bike”, the teacher even increased the number of training hours from 6 (as provided for in the program) to 15.

The day of the passage of The Pressa team of Vélo Québec instructors were present at the Saint-Benoît school to assess the students’ skills and assign them the status of advanced, intermediate and beginner cyclist. After completing a loop of approximately four kilometers with an instructor, each child receives a personalized report card.

Include every student

Saint-Benoît School was one of the first in Quebec to implement the Cycliste averti program, in 2016, at the instigation of Mr. Tauvry. The school’s principal, Denis Boivin, explains that for several years now, he has been focusing on sports to motivate his students. And the Cycliste averti program “fits perfectly with this philosophy,” he says.

The Ahuntsic neighbourhood where Saint-Benoît school is located is very multicultural and underprivileged, says Mr. Boivin. Many children don’t have bikes. About half of the students don’t know how to pedal at the beginning of the year, he estimates. Hence the idea of ​​teaching them. “The goal is for them to be able to go to high school by bike, while riding safely,” says Mr. Tauvry.

The teacher’s biggest challenge was to acquire a fleet of bicycles and helmets to allow all his students to ride. Several sponsors were found over the years. All the bikes are stored in a small room at the school. An agreement with Vélo Québec was also reached to help maintain the equipment.

In the schoolyard, two students, including Félix Michaud-Pellegrino, are busy installing water bottle holders on the bikes in preparation for a 30 km bike-camping outing planned a few weeks later. Not far away, a visually impaired student is working on her pedaling. Mr. Tauvry explains that “no one is left behind” at Saint-Benoît school.

At that moment, Vélo Québec instructor Élodie Trépanier was returning from pedaling four kilometres with a young student. After stopping, the pair discussed how the ride went. “Your control of the bike was perfect. You didn’t brake hard,” explains M^me Trépanier. “Do you think I passed?” asks the young girl, who will leave happy with her certificate of experienced cyclist.