Getting your students involved in mountain biking

About this page

Ideas for getting your students involved in mountain biking from locations to ride, to gaining approval from the school council.

Mountain biking opens up a whole new element of bike riding which catches the interest of teenagers and will help to keep them active. Imagine students riding on a single track, zipping between the trees, whoops of delight as students whizz around a bend and cruise down a dip. There is plenty of fun to be had with mountain biking.

Here are some practical suggestions for getting the students involved in mountain biking and ways in which you can minimise the risk so that the fear of accidents and litigation does not prevent some fun being had on mountain bikes.

Practical Suggestions

1. Plan where you would like to take the students mountain bike riding. Here are some resources to help:

2. Conduct a risk assessment of the activity which will include the ride to the mountain biking location. Document strategies to control or minimise the risks.

3. Gain approval from your school council to conduct the activity. You will need to present your risk assessment and the specifics of your activity proposal to them.

4. Ensure that one of the staff members taking the students out is Bike Ed trained. This will enable you to train the students on how to ride safely on the road while traveling to the mountain biking location. You will need to have one supervising adult to ten students with a minimum of two supervising adults.

5. Consider having a staff member involved do a mountain biking skills training session. This will boost their skills and give them valuable teaching points which they can pass onto the students. Off Road Cycling Adventures offers a Introduction to Mountain Biking session and a Skills in the Hills session.

6. Run a lunch time meeting to gather interest and to start your mountain biking group.

7. Have a great time!

Support the people who support your bike riding. Join Bicycle Victoria.