This fall, SDOT kicked off a new Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program at Aki Kurose Middle School with an after-school bike club. In partnership with Bike Works, SDOT staff is coordinating a 6-week program for Aki students to learn bicycle maintenance and safe urban riding skills. Students borrowed bicycles from Bike Works, and decorated helmets donated by Cascade Bicycle Club. They loved stenciling names on helmets, and covering them with reflective stickers. Club members learned how to patch inner tubes, and plan routes on a city bicycle map. They practiced rodeo games on a basketball court, looking over their 
shoulders and calling out what they observed. Students learned and demonstrated hand signals, and practiced weaving through cones.
After weeks of skills and drills, students were ready for a ride! Along with adult leaders, students formed a bicycle train and rode around the nearby park. They communicated flawlessly about upcoming turns and objects. They reflected upon what they had learned over the course of the program.
Both students and adult members are anxious for the spring club to begin!