Do you want to help teach someone else how to ride a bike, rain, snow or shine? Are you a certified instructor looking to refresh your training skills?An interactive afternoon class is being offered the day before the Winter Cycling Congress begins on Monday, 1 February, 1:30 – 4:30 p.m. at the congress venue, The Commons Hotel. The cost to participate is 35 USD and delegates get a 20 percent discount, just enter discount code: WCC20. SIGN-UP HERE.
The class will explore the Dutch approach to teaching people with different skill levels and barriers to bicycle. Our trainers create a fun and relaxed atmosphere, as teaching an adult to ride a bike is as much about building up self-esteem as it is about bicycles, safety and traffic.
Through a combination of presentations, a viewing of the celebrated Mama Agatha Documentary, and exercises on Dutch style bicycles, participants will apply new knowledge on a training style that places confidence and empowerment at the heart of learning cycling skills.
- The Program
- Introductions
- The Dutch approach to working with beginners
- Mama Agatha Documentary
- Coffee and tea break
- Practicing the approach with bicycles
- Q&A
About the Trainers
The workshop will be lead by Angela van der Kloof and Sheldon Mains. Angela is a Dutch trainer, speaker and consultant who works for Mobycon, an independent research and consulting company in sustainable mobility solutions. She focuses on stimulating behaviour change in mobility patterns and enjoys challenging people to think differently, as she learned to do more than 20 years ago when she began teaching immigrant women to cycle. Understanding the fundamental way mobility affected the lives of the women she was teaching, Angela began to see the bike as a tool to stimulate participation and interaction in society and creating an environment that is social and accessible for all.
Angela developed a series of train-the-trainer sessions for cycling, which she has been teaching in The Netherlands for almost 20 years. One of the many positive and memorable responses to the cycling courses is from Judith, born and raised in Kenya and coming to live in The Netherlands:
“I learned to bike, so I can learn anything!”
Sheldon has been a life-long casual and commuting bicycle rider. In 2013 he started the SPOKES community bike center in Minneapolis to specifically help get more East African immigrants biking (in 2015, SPOKES merged with Cycles for Change). Getting SPOKES started involved dealing with city, state and federal bureaucracy for its initial funding, obtaining funding from other sources, hiring staff and developing it’s first programs (with the help of Cycles for Change). He is a League Certified Instructor and has taught the Adult Learn-to-Ride class since 2013. Sheldon rides his beloved 1988 Trek road bike in the spring, summer and fall and a Specialized with studded tires from first snow to spring slush.
