Youth program - How ?

Quoted message said:

Dumbasses,

Our local governing body has available a considerable amount of funding
for youth programs geared towards racing (as opposed to
safety/commuting) in Toronto and has approached us (my club) to propose
a program.

I can't even envision what the program woudl look like, give the usual
constraints of working in a big city.

There is not a lot of history with this sort of thing in our area so I
wanted to hear about how other clubs have designed programs for city
kids and how they have worked.

One difficulty is to find a location, the nearest track is two hours
away and it might not be possible to secure a good location that is
within the city.

Ideally this program would attract kids that usually wouldn't
participate in this type of activity.
Most kids who are racing are from racing families or have parents who
are willing to able to spend a lot of time/money on the sport. One
thing Canada needs to do is deepen it's talent pool.

One thought was to build a program around a grass track. I don't know
anything about it, but I know many riders from the west indies who have
experience in that discipline.

We're definitely not in a large city but we do use the grass track
model, as do a lot of other groups here in New England. This seems to
lead more to Cross, but we're Cross crazy so it's natural.
Maybe JT, or Casey could help out. One of the best programs I know of
is the RAD Racing folks out in Tacoma.
http://www.radracingnw.org/
They have a great model going in an urban area.
Bill C

in message <[email hidden]>,

(') said:

Our local governing body has available a considerable amount of funding
for youth programs geared towards racing (as opposed to
safety/commuting) in Toronto and has approached us (my club) to propose
a program.

I can't even envision what the program woudl look like, give the usual
constraints of working in a big city.

There is not a lot of history with this sort of thing in our area so I
wanted to hear about how other clubs have designed programs for city
kids and how they have worked.

One difficulty is to find a location, the nearest track is two hours
away and it might not be possible to secure a good location that is
within the city.

Be imaginative.

Is there some industrial area, or some large business premises, which has
private roads which are not in use in the evenings/at weekends? If so,
will they let you use them? Failing that, a park with broad paved paths?
An army camp? A small airport that isn't in use seven days a week? Having
got that, can you negotiate a fee for using it that you can afford?

You don't need a very big circuit for kids; it's ideal to be able to see
the whole circuit from a single point.

Quoted message said:

Most kids who are racing are from racing families or have parents who
are willing to able to spend a lot of time/money on the sport. One
thing Canada needs to do is deepen it's talent pool.

You've got to make the activities varied; if they become boring the kids
will stop turning up. You'll need to have bikes to lend (and not rubbish
ones), and you need to have some tie-in with local shops to help the
kids get their own bikes affordably.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; Want to know what SCO stands for?
;; http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20030605

Quoted message said:

Dumbasses,

Our local governing body has available a considerable amount of funding
for youth programs geared towards racing (as opposed to
safety/commuting) in Toronto and has approached us (my club) to propose
a program.

<snip>

Quoted message said:

One thought was to build a program around a grass track. I don't know
anything about it, but I know many riders from the west indies who have
experience in that discipline.

I think I need to move to Canada. Only there can you find governing
bodies in search of beneficiaries (instead of it being the other way
around).

I think your idea to possibly do grass-track is an excellent one. You
can allieviate the fears of many parents (and kids) by removing asphalt
from the equation. With this method, you can probably find lots of
places to conduct practice (and racing) and you can rotate locations.
Since most kids spend their time indoors these days, the fields are
probably all but abandoned.

Use your imagination and taylor the program to fit your local needs.
Go with it (I say).

Quoted message said:

Dumbasses,

Our local governing body has available a considerable amount of funding
for youth programs geared towards racing (as opposed to
safety/commuting) in Toronto and has approached us (my club) to propose
a program.

I can't even envision what the program woudl look like, give the usual
constraints of working in a big city.

There is not a lot of history with this sort of thing in our area so I
wanted to hear about how other clubs have designed programs for city
kids and how they have worked.

One difficulty is to find a location, the nearest track is two hours
away and it might not be possible to secure a good location that is
within the city.

Ideally this program would attract kids that usually wouldn't
participate in this type of activity.
Most kids who are racing are from racing families or have parents who
are willing to able to spend a lot of time/money on the sport. One
thing Canada needs to do is deepen it's talent pool.

One thought was to build a program around a grass track. I don't know
anything about it, but I know many riders from the west indies who have
experience in that discipline.

Dumbass, doesn't your provincial cycing body have some sort of program
like this?
http://www.ontariocycling.org/web_pages/sprockids_Whatis.php
oh, wait - you said racing focus... hmm. I just had a similar
discussion about this w/ a track promoter this weekend. Tracks
definitely offer a safe haven for kids to learn to race. We're trying
to get a local stock car track to agree to let us have classes and
events there. I bet there's something near Toronto that could fit the
bill. The kid riding in traffic thing is a real deterrent for N.
America. I guess in Europe, the parents probably ride on the roads and
take their kids out with them?

yeahyeah said:

I guess in Europe, the parents probably ride on the roads and
take their kids out with them?

Yeah, here anyway. Also, the traffic is used to cyclists. Also, a lot
of motorists don't see cyclists as 2nd rate road users or at least
don't act upon it. Also, there are enough quiet back roads to get away
from most traffic. Also, but I think that's more Dutch than European,
most busy provincial roads have cycle paths in some form.

--
E. Dronkert

in message <[email hidden]>, Ewoud Dronkert

(') said:

yeahyeah said:

I guess in Europe, the parents probably ride on the roads and
take their kids out with them?

Yeah, here anyway. Also, the traffic is used to cyclists. Also, a lot
of motorists don't see cyclists as 2nd rate road users or at least
don't act upon it.

In Britain, drivers mostly do see cyclists as vermin and do act upon it;
but nevertheless we take kids from as young as ten out on club runs, and
parents take kids out training with them, on the road. The best
fourteen-year-old round here also does an awful lot of training on the
roads by himself; I often see him out, putting the miles in, in the
holidays and after school. We do have reasonably quiet roads, but then
so I'm sure does most of rural America.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
;; Generally Not Used
;; Except by Middle Aged Computer Scientists

Ewoud Dronkert said:

yeahyeah said:

I guess in Europe, the parents probably ride on the roads and
take their kids out with them?

Yeah, here anyway. Also, the traffic is used to cyclists. Also, a lot
of motorists don't see cyclists as 2nd rate road users or at least
don't act upon it. Also, there are enough quiet back roads to get away
from most traffic. Also, but I think that's more Dutch than European,
most busy provincial roads have cycle paths in some form.

dumbass,

my city, is actually pretty good if you want to get around by bike and
there are lots of cyclists. but it is not good for racing and training.

a dedicated facility like a track or circuit is good because parents
can drop the little terrors off and know that they aren't getting
flattened by cars.

On 20 Aug 2006 16:55:56 -0700, "Bill C" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Maybe JT, or Casey could help out. One of the best programs I know of
is the RAD Racing folks out in Tacoma.
http://www.radracingnw.org/
They have a great model going in an urban area.

There is a program near where I live that's focussed on a track.
Perhaps a closed road course could serve just as well.

Here is an article by the person who runs it with her contact info at
the end
http://www.crca.net/news/200512.htm#1

I know almost nothing about youth racing myself.

JT

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