I swear teaching our children things that we always saw as relatively easy for ourselves is a challenge! I thought teaching Alivia to swim would be a breeze (it wasn’t, and isnt!) and the same goes for riding a bike. For the past year or so she’s motored around on a balance bike and a “big girl” bike with training wheels and all was well… until you told her that one day those extra set of wheels were going to come off – then all hell would break loose!
Parenting a strong willed kid is a challenge on the best of days, on a day that she is scared to try something new? Let me tell you…
We had a bit of a bad experience with having someone else try to teach Alivia to swim, after a teacher walking away from her and her going under the water to a second teacher scolding her because of her fear.. we had ample reason to worry that having someone teach her to ride her bike might not go so well, but we decided to try it out anyways. We have heard nothing but amazing things about the Pedalheads program! They believe everyone should be able to ride with confidence, and use supportive hands-on teaching methods that encourage safety and comfort on their bikes. We knew A would respond best to positive encouragement and less focus on what she wasn’t great at yet, so this sounded perfect to us! 
A & B were both enrolled in the same class – Level 1 Newbees which is geared towards Preschoolers/Kinders with a general comfort on their balance bikes or training wheel equipped bikes. We signed up about three weeks before the class and really appreciated that we received updates leading up to the class – a reminder to helmet check to make sure your child’s helmet is the right size, a reminder to dress for the weather (most classes are outside, regardless of rain!) and to pack a snack to keep the Pedalheads full of energy!
Day 1 was a fun day, starting with a quick helmet check and a brief introduction with the instructor the kids were right off into a stretching routine with everyone and off to try out their bikes! This was the perfect chance for the instructors to gauge how ready the kids were to move on to the next step, which we sort of thought would be a gradual removal of those training wheels… nope, we picked up both kids and no training wheels in sight! I can’t even tell you how impressed we were that in just one day, the instructors had helped both kids be comfortable enough to have their trainers taken off.
Day 2 was a no holds barred kinda day! The kids were off right away learning how to balance on their bikes, how to stop safely and most importantly – how to get started! The kids are split off into groups for their classes of between 4-6 kids per instrctor. This is the perfect ratio for hands on time with each student but enough kids to be able to do some fun drills and exercises – all of which both kids loved.
In just 2 days, we saw a major improvement in both kids self confidence, their comfort on their bikes and their desire to try new things on them.. total win!
Day 3 was the special day of helping, a quick 15 minute exercise to help the children say “thank you” to the schools and locations that let Pedalheads use their facilities. Our littles made cute cards as their way of saying thanks! You’ll also have a chance to make a donation to the Neighborhood House fundraising efforts during the week by grabbing a bracelet or some Pedalheads swag.
Day 4 was when we saw the most improvement for A, she would hop on her bike and ride off without asking anyone to hold her seat for her to get started. I might have teared up a little bit watching her zoom off without any help! I was equally impressed that they not only focused on getting started but also how to safely stop on their bikes, A’s bike had a hand brake as well as pedal brakes and she can comfortably use both! To hear her yell “Mom! MOM! I did it!!!!” from across the field was seriously one of the best experiences I could have ever asked for from this camp. Just seeing how much pride she had in her accomplishment, and how she recognized that she was rocking it!
Day 5 snuck up on us so quickly, before we knew it we had kids who could ride their bikes without training wheels.. in 5 days! I still can’t believe how quickly this happened. The very last day of camp consists of a bike parade and a fun theme day, ours just so happened to be Western Day! Helisa had a chance to watch the parade and couldn’t stop gushing about the pride all the kids had on their faces as they showed off their new found skills. A group of 30+ kids zoomed around training wheel free. At the very end, the kids earn their “graduation” booklet, which for us is their progress report. throughout the week your child’s instructors keeps track of areas they are excelling at, or might need a little bit more help with. They also write a little note in the comments section, which A LOVES having me read over and over to her!
Final thoughts?
This camp was mind blowing! We stayed to watch quite a bit of the lessons and loved how the instructors interacted with each student, if a child needed a little bit extra encouragement, it was there. If they needed a chance to be silly, there was many sillies to be had. If the kids just need a high-five – the instructors were right there.
I had a very timid child going into bike camp who was afraid of “falling” who in 5 very short days now rides her bike with confidence and asks us daily to go for bike rides with her. Each day, she’s trying something a little bit more daring and stepping outside of her comfort zone. We found the camp pricing to be very reasonable, especially after having witnessed first hand just how much they squeeze into such a short amount of time.
We’re already planning to enroll her in the next level with Pedalheads to encourage her love for biking!
Camp Information
A&B were signed up for the Pedalheads half-day camp which runs for 2.5 hours through the week. Half day camps run around the $150 mark for the week, and you’re welcome to stay to watch the kids or drop them off and come back at pick-up. Full day camp and private lessons are also available at certain locations for all ages. Pedalheads offers a variety of levels for all skill sets from tiny tots to advanced riders and currently camps are available in BC, AB, ON and Washington. For more information on camp availability, what to expect and where to register, check out Pedalheads.com.
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{Disclosure: We were invited to try Pedalheads Bike Camp in exchange for this post, all opinions are our own. Our video speaks for itself, the kids had a BLAST!}
