CANBIKE
Cycling is great for your physical and mental health; it provides basic, inexpensive transportation to school, work, shopping or visiting friends. It is often used as a form of daily recreation on trails, quiet back roads or residential areas. For years, many of us have used the bicycle for our annual vacations. While the bicycle is most enjoyable, it is NOT a toy. Indeed it is a vehicle under the Motor Vehicle Act and must be used in a safe and prudent manner and we, like other road users, must obey the laws as they apply to bicycles.
CAN-BIKE is a Canada-wide safe cycling educational program. There are a series of courses offered from basic “learn to ride” to advanced multi-day courses, like CAN-BIKE 2 for folks wanting to really hone their knowledge and skills and perhaps position themselves to partake in the CAN-BIKE Instructors course, enabling them to teach the CAN-BIKE courses.
The CAN-BIKE approach is very simple. Start with the basics – bike and helmet fit, then teach traffic dynamics; followed by parking lot practice and then, for some of the advanced courses, on-road cycling while being observed and coached by the instructor. All courses provide descriptive material to enhance the learning process. Quite often bicyclists enter the CAN-BIKE program with various abilities. It is our approach to work on what you know (sometimes we need to address bad habits) and present the course in a series of building blocks.
In most courses, you will be taught the ABCs of bicycle inspection, traffic dynamics, lane positioning, as well as on road skills such as straight line cycling, shoulder checks, signaling, rock dodging, threshold braking, and emergency turns as part of collision avoidance. Even seasoned cyclists will greatly benefit from taking CAN-BIKE courses.
CAN-BIKE is not a course to learn racing tactics or cycling tricks, it was designed to give participants knowledge and skills to ride in rural and urban streets in a safe fashion while sharing the roads with other users.
CAN-BIKE: SEE – BE SEEN – BE PREDICABLE
Why Take CAN-BIKE?
- Get rid of bad habits
- Reaffirm correct actions
- Better awareness of skills
- Learn crash avoidance techniques
- Ability to adapt to changes in traffic
- Safer with other cyclists
- More predictable to motorists = safer
- Share experiences with other participants
- Demonstrate the behaviours you want to see
Course Description
Kids CAN-BIKE Festival
– A playground based event for children 8 to 13 years old; includes key bicycle handling skills necessary for safe riding; helmet fit, bike inspection – parents must be present to help their children develop safe habits and attitudes. Duration 2 to 3 hours, maximum 8 children per instructor.
Kids CAN-BIKE Courses
– Same age group as above, but a full 10 hour advanced course covering rules of the road, the bicycle’s place in traffic, safe equipment, bike handling skills, and on-road instruction. Maximum 5 children per instructor.
Kids and Adult CAN-BIKE Learn to Ride 1 Course
– Don’t know how to ride a bike? We’ll teach you! We will focus on balance, starting and stopping, turning and pedaling. This is a 3 hour course. Maximum 2 students per session.
Adult CAN-BIKE Learn to Ride 2
– For folks who know how to ride but who are too unsteady to ride on street. You will learn to balance, start, stop, cadence, how to ride up hills / gearing for comfort, bike fit and inspection. (One 3 hour session)
Introduction to Cycling Skills
– This is a full 8 hours, includes in- class and on-road instruction to help you gain the knowledge and skills as well as confidence to ride more often. Includes bicycle care and operation. 15 years of age and over.
ADULT CAN-BIKE 1
– Ages 15 and older. 15 hour in depth course for advanced cyclists, who want to use their bikes to ride on residential or urban streets, including commuting and recreational cycling. Learn to cycle with confidence. We will have class and on-road instruction covering traffic dynamics, riding techniques, detecting and avoiding hazards, skills drills, emergency techniques, as well as bicycle care. (15 hour)
CAN-BIKE FOR WOMEN
– Similar to CAN-BIKE 1 but a course taught by women for women only and covers topics specific to women.
CAN-BIKE RURAL CYCLING COURSE
– Similar to CAN-BIKE 1 with a rural emphasis; also includes touring and group riding.
ADULT CAN-BIKE 2
– This is an advanced course in defensive cycling designed for commuters, and recreational cyclists who already ride in traffic. It covers riding skills, traffic dynamics, flat tire repair, ABC bicycle check, health and fitness, equipment and emergency maneuvers. Students must have riding experience. This course is a pre-requisite to taking a CAN-BIKE Instructors Course. In-class and on-road instruction, including an exam at the end to pass and receive certificate. (20 hours)
CAN-BIKE Instructors Course
– Taken after the prerequisite CAN-BIKE 11 Course (with sufficient grades / recommendations) from a CAN-BIKE National Examiner. (18 hours)