Thursday, February 2, 2012

TEMECULA: Bike train rolls into Barnett Elementary


buy this photo Nearly 150 Ysabel Barnett Elementary School students took part in the Bike Train program on Thursday that is designed to encourage students to ride to school. DON BOOMER | dboomer@californian.com
  • TEMECULA: Bike train rolls into Barnett Elementary
  • TEMECULA: Bike train rolls into Barnett Elementary
  • TEMECULA: Bike train rolls into Barnett Elementary

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A line of bicyclists stretched a half-mile down Harveston Drive on Thursday morning as almost 150 students took part in Ysabel Barnett Elementary School's first bike train.
Riders ranged from older boys on mountain bikes to younger girls on pink bikes, wearing small pink helmets.
The bike train was started last year at Paloma Elementary by Temecula resident Zak Schwank as a way to get children to ride their bikes.
"We used to ride everywhere as kids," Schwank said as a crowd began to gather outside the Harveston Center. "It's a way to get kids on bikes."
Schwank, 38, was overwhelmed by the response to the initial ride at Barnett.
"I'd be happy if it's with one child," he said before the ride started.
By the end, he counted 124 bikes at the Temecula campus and estimated that at least 20 parents took their child's bike home after the ride.
The small group of participants swelled when Barnett Principal Chris Dixon rode up to the Harveston Center about 8:30 a.m. with about 40 children behind him.
"This community is just built for (the bike train)," Dixon said.
Parents said their children were excited about the ride.
"All week, she was looking forward to it," Waldo Banks said of daughter Whitney, 9, a fourth-grader. "Last night, she washed her bike."
Banks seemed more anxious than Whitney about the ride. As the train departed, he was still holding the back of her seat.
"She loves riding her bike," Banks said. "I think it's a good idea for fitness and camaraderie. It makes her want to go to school."
Schwank said the program's success will rely in part on parents allowing their children to ride their bikes. On Thursday, some adults walked or rode along with their child and others followed in cars.
Jeff Reilly, who teaches a fourth- and fifth-grade combination class at Barnett, said about 20 students regularly ride bicycles to school.
"We're a motorized culture," Reilly said. "We need to get kids to practice a little more healthy activities. To change culture, you have to do things like this."
Reilly, 34, who rides his bike to school most days, said the students were excited to bring out their wheels.
"Hopefully, we'll get more and more," he said. "We'll start every Thursday and see what happens from there."
Fourth-grader Connor Brannan, 9, joined the crowd even though he walks to school because he lives across the street.
"This is just a fun thing," he said.
The idea of the weekly bike train is to start at one location and have riders join along the route.
One of the cyclists Thursday was Temecula Mayor Chuck Washington.
"We need to support them to get kids out of cars and onto bikes," Washington said. "It's healthy for them; it's good traffic management."
Traffic can be a nightmare around schools at the start and end of the day, and Washington said bike riding could ease those woes.
"I think we can reduce traffic by 20 percent," he said.
There were fewer cars, but bike traffic was heavy at Barnett and parking was at a premium.
Once the regular racks were filled, bikes were stored in a preschool area.
Washington said he would look into finding city money to buy more bike racks for Barnett.
Schwank said he hopes the bike train expands further.
"I'd like to see it at all elementary and middle schools and high schools," he said. "If we can get these kids riding now, when they get to middle school, they'll still want to ride."
Call staff writer Craig Shultz at 951-676-4315, ext. 2625. Follow The Californian's education Twitter feed @CShultz_TheCal.

Read more: http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/temecula/temecula-bike-train-rolls-into-barnett-elementary/article_2d4e6a30-f2ed-59ae-93c1-99a401412dd0.html#ixzz1lHnxHeMQ