Welcome to Herts Balance and Ride’s Holiday and Week-end courses page.  Here you’ll find details of the courses on offer and a link to the Public and Booking page.

Learn to Balance and Ride (L2BR)

Learn to Balance and Ride sessions are primarily aimed at children aged 3.5 years and upwards.  Most are in Reception, Years 1 and 2 but older children are more than welcome and often make more rapid progress. 

I work with up to 5 children per session and each child is provided with a balance bike and quality lightweight balance bike.  Although in a small group each child is treated as an individual.  They are encouraged and supported to work hard and move on as quickly as they can but are not pressured into something they’re not yet ready for.

The initial focus is on achieving balance and a series of exercises are used to help this develop.  For some children this can come quickly, for others it may take the whole session or even a little bit more.  When the child can glide confidently on the balance bike they then move on to the pedal bike.

Once transition to the pedal bike has been achieved we’re 80% of the way there and it’s then a small number of steps to achieve riding.

The sessions are around an hour long and are fairly intensive!  If children have already developed good balancing skills, normally through prior use of a balance bike, the transition to pedalling and riding a bike can generally be achieved within an hour.   If they haven’t yet learned to balance, I strongly recommend you book two sessions, preferably separated by a few hours or better still a day, to allow time for rest!

Parents/guardians can play an important part in the process at key stages so whilst the majority of the work is undertaken by me, you can be very much involved in this important activity if you want to and this can really help children progress.

Click on the Public Schedule and Booking link to see what’s available in your area and to book online.

Developing Better Bike Control (DBBC)

The Developing Better Bike Control course is aimed at those who’ve just learned to ride and is designed to develop and strengthen the fundamental control skills necessary for safe riding.  It is also very useful for those who may be about to do a Bikeability course and whose bike control skills need some further work.

Skills include:

• Starting using the ‘pedal-ready’ position.
• Setting and re-setting the pedal to quickly achieve the ‘pedal ready’ position.
• Adopting the correct riding position for comfort, control and safety – balls of feet on pedals, head up and looking forward and fingers over brake levers.
• Making the bike go where the rider wants:
• Able to make turns to the right and left using a combination of leaning and
          turning of the handlebars to achieve more gradual or sharper turns
• Stopping under control
• Looking all around including behind whilst keeping the bike going in the desired direction
• Riding in close proximity with other riders and adjusting speed and distance to ensure safety
• Use of gears
• Riding one-handed/signalling

Again I work with a maximum of five children in one-hour sessions which allows enough time for each child to receive individual coaching and focus on
the particular areas that are most important to them.   Children are welcome to bring their own bikes which must be of the correct size and roadworthy. Alternatively bikes can be hired.  Helmets are also available if needed.

Click on the Public Schedule and Booking link to see what’s available in your area and to book online.

On-road training (Bikeability):

As a Bikeability Instructor for 14 years and reaching the level of Instructor Trainer I also offer on-road training for children, adults and increasingly for family groups.

Bikeability is effectively the ‘marketing’ name for the National Standard for Cycle Training, the government’s scheme for ensuring that both children and adults have the skills they need to cycle safely on road.  Bikeability is an improved, updated and more relevant version of the old cycling proficiency scheme and is delivered by trained and accredited professional instructors.

The majority of children will do a Bikeability Level 1 and 2 course in either Year 5 or Year 6 and in a number of cases children can benefit from doing a public or private DBBC course (effectively a Bikeability Level 1) beforehand, particularly if their control skills are not as strong as they could be.

If children missed out on a Bikeability course at school or perhaps didn’t achieve their Level 2 a private session or sessions can allow them to gain the skills they need to ride on quieter roads (Level 2).  And for those young (or older) adults who want to ride on busier roads with faster traffic and more challenging conditions I also offer Level 3 training, the highest level of Bikeability training.  Details of Bikeability together with some very useful videos can be found here:   Bikeability | Cycle training for everyone, delivering better, safer cycling. 

With the growing popularity of cycling more and more families are heading out on road together and it can be very useful for younger children to have an understanding of how to ride safely on the road, even though they will still be riding with an adult who will be making the key decisions and guiding and protecting them. 

Bikebility training is delivered via private sessions on an individual basis or for groups of up to 5 people.  If you’re interested in on-road training have a look at the Private Sessions page and complete the form and I will call you to discuss your requirements.