Beach Bike Train reaches over 100 riders!

June 02, 2010 | by Margaux Mennesson | Posted in Education

The Beach School Bike Train truly stole the show during this year’s Walk + Bike Challenge. This part-bike ride, part-social event kept growing and growing as enthusiasm spread from students and parents to the principal and beyond. Two stories about the train showed up on BikePortland.org, the first after author Jonathan Maus happened to notice a bike train meet-up sign on his morning commute a couple weeks ago.

In the second article, guest author Chris Sullivan reported that Beach had officially maxed out its bike parking:

“The count of just kids’ bikes locked up at the school Friday morning — to the new staple racks, to trees, to fences, to signs, to other bikes…wherever there was any space remaining — was 62. The goal for all riders was 50. Well done Beach School!”

Finding bike parking turned into quite the social event. Photo by Michael Armstrong.

Here at the BTA, we think the Beach School Bike Train truly embodies the spirit of what Walk + Bike Month is all about – figuring out how to get your school community to rally around biking and walking, to make it fun, comfortable, safe, and sustainable. So we want to share another testimonial from Beach School volunteer Kiel Johnson. In his own words, Kiel explains why the bike train is successful and inspiring.

Beach School Bike Train Reaches Over 100 Riders!
By Kiel Johnson, Beach School parent

“On Friday we celebrated the last day of Walk + Bike to School Month at Beach Elementary with the school principal riding along for the bike train. We have been growing the bike train every week this month with 15-25 riders coming from multiple directions. We even got mentioned in BikePortland. However, on Friday we got over 100 riders! (According to the school crossing guard it was 106!)

Here comes the Beach School Bike Train! Photo by Michael Armstrong

I’ve been really surprised at how enthusiastic people are about biking instead of driving to school. I think the bike train is successful because it creates an environment where people feel safe and comfortable to ride a bike and socialize. For the kids it’s about having the freedom to go somewhere with your own power and having fun with your friends. For the parents, it’s about feeling comfortable with their kids riding bikes, but also about being part of a group. Each week is different, and bad weather or tough hills aren’t enough to keep people from participating.

Waiting for everyone to show up at the meeting spot, we already had such a big group that we took up two blocks! You can see the new sharrows on Concord, too. Photo by Michael Armstrong.
Friday’s event was truly one of my best biking moments ever, and an incredible moment to be a part of. I can still remember the day when I thought, “Biking to school is a really good idea, so I am just going to do it even if no one else is doing it.” There are many committed people who helped bring it to this level at Beach.
It’s the Beach School principal and the bike fairy. Photo by Michael Armstrong.
Thank you to everyone who helped make this happen, from the engineers who built the neighborhood bike boulevards to the parents at Beach who have really embraced the idea of a bike train. Especially Laurie Paulsen, who has put in more work towards making this happen than I have.
Superstar Walk + Bike Coordinator Laurie Paulsen. Photo by Michael Armstrong.
Photo by Michael Armstrong.

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