Tuesday, September 1, 2009

CanBike1 Course - Saturday August 29th 2009



From Brian Schoneberg:

"Early on the morning of Saturday August 29th, members of the Comox Valley Cycling Coalition converged at the Tsolum Building in Lewis Park.

They were meeting so that they could become Qualified Instructor Assistants of the Safe Cycling Course.

The course is called CanBike1 and now 9 members of Coalition are qualified to assist Ed Schum in providing the course to students from grade 4-7.

A second group will be meeting Wednesday September 2nd at 9:00 am. This will ensure that there is a central cadre to draw upon to provide the course.

The Coalition is working closely with the schools in the valley and will begin teaching Safe Cycling Courses as early as mid September.

At the completion of the classroom lessons and after a quick lunch, all of the members headed out on their bikes to put their new knowledge to use. They travelled across the 5th Street bridge and continued all around downtown Courtenay and out to the Driftwood Mall. They returned into town following Cliffe Avenue and crossed the 17th Street bridge. Up, around and through the major intersection at Ryan Road and Highway 19A (Superstore / Canadian Tire), then finishing back at Lewis Park.

It was challenging riding. The traffic was courteous for the most part and using the new skills allowed everyone to complete each of the sections safely.

The Comox Valley Cycling Coalition’s mission is to create a safe environment for cycling in the Comox Valley and encourage cycling as an effective, economical, healthy and environmentally friendly mode of transportation."