Heading against traffic, riding on the sidewalks, and unpredictable behaviour at intersections not only frustrate motorists, but also often counter-intuitively put the cyclist right into harm’s way. Cyclists share the same rules and responsibilities as motorists, but traveling at different speeds than cars, and often being less visible on the road requires know-how and strong bike handling skills.
The Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition (SBBC) is dedicated to offer safe bicycling educational programs to all South Coast residents, independent of age, location, economic status, or language spoken, in order to support the development of safe and respectful road behaviors from both motorists and cyclists. To make some traction with this vision, the SBBC is constantly recruiting and training instructors for its after school programs, group rides, and monthly adult trainings. Bringing in the only nationally recognized training seminar for experienced cyclists to become instructors is an important accomplishment towards this goal.
Everybody wants to save money, stay healthy, protect the environment, be safe on the road and have fun. According to the US Census Bureau average for years 2005-2009, 4.1% of workers commute by bike in Santa Barbara, and 6.9% in Goleta (more than Portland, OR). With such impressive numbers of commuters in our community, bike education has never been in so much demand for all road users.
In response to it, the SBBC has scheduled a League Cycling Instructor training on November 11-13th, 2011. For two and a half days, pre-registered and qualified candidates will review the curricula developed by the League of American Bicyclists (LAB): they will teach a bike mechanics session, practice bike handling skills, lead rides in traffic and become expert biking educators. At the end of the training, new LCIs will be able to teach anywhere in the US with LAB educational material and insurance coverage.
To register for an LCI seminar, LAB requires a League membership and a previous participation in Traffic Skills 101 (called Street Skills clinics in Santa Barbara and offered every other month)
http://bicicentro.org/adultclass
Some scholarships will be available for candidates in our community.
Please contact Christine Bourgeois for questions and registrations.
805 699 6301
The Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition, founded in 1991, is a countywide bicycling advocacy organization with projects that increase awareness, promote education, reduce accidents, and in general make it easier and more fun for us all to bicycle. Bici Centro, a project of the SBBC launched its street-front Bicycle Repair and Education Center within La Casa de la Raza in April 2008. Besides offering Open Shop to the community on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, Bici Centro has been developing its educational classes both for adults and youth over the last 3 years.