Freiker/Bike To School

Freiker (short for "frequent biker", rhymes with biker) is a program that inspires kids to ride or walk to school. A Freikometer, which was installed at Almond School in March 2009, is a solar powered RFID tag reader that tracks kids who walk or bike to school each day. Through education on bike saftey and a reward system, our goal is to increase average bike ridership to over 20% at participating schools in the '09-'10 school year.

The Freiker Bike To School program is bustling with activity. March 2010 will see three new schools launch – Santa Rita and Springer Elementary Schools and Egan Junior High. 

A variety of activities are supporting each launch.
    •    Springer held a parent education night on February 25 and will hold a school-wide bike skills rodeo on March 18th.
    •    Earlier that week, on Monday, March 15, Almond School will be celebrating its first birthday as the first Freiker school in California. With balloons, bagels and hot chocolate, the school will toast the kids, sponsors and supporters and sing a rousing round of Happy Birthday.
    •    At Egan Junior High, the Freiker team will be teaching bike safety to every Egan student in PE classes – all 533 students.

With four schools up and running, Los Altos School District will have the most systems in any school district in the nation. This program has drawn interest from around the valley, with inquiries from Berkeley, San Jose and Santa Cruz.

Be on the lookout – there are sure to be more kids on bikes this Spring!

Did you know: The bicycle is the most efficient machine ever created:  Converting calories into gas, a bicycle gets the equivalent of 3,000 miles per gallon!!

Want to help? We could use 3-4 hot chocolate servers at Almond on Monday March 15 from 7:45 - 8:20 a.m. Please contact suzanne.ambiel@sbcglobal.net if you'd like to pitch in.

For more information, contact: bike@greentownlosaltos.org

Jon Simms, Chair
Suzanne Ambiel, Vice Chair