Victoria bike program teaches children safe cycling skills<\/p>\n
Published 4:30 pm Saturday, June 27, 2026<\/p>\n
A new bicycle education program is helping Victoria children build confidence on two wheels while honouring the memory of a cyclist who believed every child should have the skills to ride safely.<\/p>\n
About 50 elementary and middle school students gathered at Central Middle School on Saturday for the inaugural Forrest T. McMullen Memorial Children\u2019s Bicycle Education Program, a free event organized by Ride It Forward in partnership with Capital Bike.<\/p>\n
The program teaches young riders essential cycling skills, including road safety, basic bike maintenance, obstacle navigation and bicycle etiquette.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re creating, along with Capital Bike, an education workshop for kids to learn how to ride bikes safely,\u201d said Michael Erlanger, founder of Ride It Forward.<\/p>\n
The program honours Forrest T. McMullen, known as Chip, a close friend of Erlanger who was killed in a cycling collision. Erlanger said the initiative was created to continue McMullen\u2019s passion for cycling and children\u2019s safety.<\/p>\n
Ride It Forward collects donated bicycles, refurbishes them and distributes them to students through eight schools in the Greater Victoria School District. Along with each bicycle, children receive a new helmet, bike lock and water bottle.<\/p>\n
Erlanger said the education program complements the organization\u2019s bicycle donation efforts by ensuring children have the knowledge to ride safely.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve created room for 50 children,\u201d he said. \u201cNot necessarily just the kids that received our bikes, but the whole student population.\u201d<\/p>\n
Capital Bike instructors led participants through a curriculum covering bicycle safety checks, including inspecting brakes and tires, as well as riding exercises designed to improve handling and awareness.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ll teach bike safety, very simple maintenance, checking tires, checking brakes,\u201d Erlanger said. \u201cThey\u2019ve created some obstacle courses for the kids to learn how to ride safely.\u201d<\/p>\n
The day also featured games, prizes, food and completion certificates.<\/p>\n
As Ride It Forward continues to grow, Erlanger said the non-profit is seeking donated bicycles that can be refurbished for children in need, as well as support for future education programs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019ve got bicycles to donate that are just not used anymore and are in your garage, they can be repurposed and given to a child,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Victoria bike program teaches children safe cycling skills Published 4:30 pm Saturday, June 27, 2026 A new bicycle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":765750,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82],"class_list":["post-765749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=765749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/765750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=765749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=765749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=765749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}