Adventure Cycling Inspires Adults to Get Kids Psyched on Bikes

Missoula, Montana, March 20th, 2008 — Adventure Cycling Association announces a fantastic new educational offering, the Pedal Pioneers Training Course (PPTC). Designed to get kids off the couch and onto a bicycle saddle, this is a leadership course for adults who want to take groups of kids on overnight bicycle adventures. The PPTC distills Adventure Cycling's decades' worth of experience in organizing and leading bicycle tours, and wraps it into a three-day package that will impart a wealth of knowledge and know-how on and off the bike. Continuing education credits are available.

"Our goal is to give adult leaders the tools they will need to take a group of kids on the adventure of a lifetime - whether it is an overnight outing or a month-long tour," says Becky Douglas, Adventure Cycling's outreach and education coordinator. "Three days of demonstrations, role-playing, lectures, and riding will hone participants' leadership skills, and point them down the road to leading successful youth bicycle adventures."

Craig Johnston, a teacher from California, led a weeklong bicycle trip with five kids along the Lewis and Clark Bicycle Trail. "We had a great multi-day bicycle trip! The kids learned so much, and found out what they could accomplish anything if they put their minds to it," said Johnston. "This trip changed the lives of these five students, and of me. We literally could not have done it without [Adventure Cycling's] support."

Douglas adds, "Overnight bike trips provide an great opportunity for youth to combine physical and mental challenges, hone social skills, learn about different regions of the world, gain confidence, and build a sense of self-sufficiency through experiential learning."

Kids are less active today then they were thirty years ago. As a result, youth obesity rates are at an all-time high and many lifestyle-related illnesses such as childhood diabetes are on the rise. The shift to an indoor childhood has accelerated in the past decade, with huge declines in spontaneous outdoor activities such as bike riding, swimming, and touch football, according to separate studies by the National Sporting Goods Association, a trade group, and American Sports Data, a research firm. Bike riding alone is down 31% since 1995.

For more information about Adventure Cycling's Pedal Pioneers Training Course, or to sign up, visit http://www.adventurecycling.org/tours/2008pedalpioneer.cfm.

Adventure Cycling Association is the premier bicycle travel organization in North America with more than 43,000 members. A nonprofit organization, our mission is to inspire people of all ages to travel by bicycle. We produce routes and maps for cycling in North America, organize more than 40 tours annually, and publish the best bicycle travel information anywhere, including Adventure Cyclist magazine and The Cyclists' Yellow Pages. With 37,210 meticulously mapped miles in our route network, Adventure Cycling gives cyclists the tools and confidence to create their own bike travel adventures. Contact us at (800) 755-BIKE (2453), info@adventurecycling.org, or visit http://www.adventurecycling.org.