MAYA MCFADDEN Photos
Amin Sapand learns how to check a bike's air, breaks, and chain ...
... at a "bike rodeo" at Adult Ed.
Amin Sapand wants to go back to biking as his primary mode of transportation — like it was when he was living in Afghanistan. Earlier this week, the Adult Education student secured new bike lights to accompany his bike lock and helmet while he practiced his bike etiquette at the school’s “bike rodeo.”
Samand joined his fellow students at the New Haven Adult Education Center Monday in taking a 30-minute break from academic lessons at around 10 a.m. Students took that time to learn how to maintain and ride bikes safely as a means of daily transportation.
The bike rodeo was part of Adult Ed’s multicultural festival running from May 12 to May 23. The festival is being hosted by Adult Ed’s Project Museum program. Monday’s event was in partnership with New Haven Coalition for Active Transportation (NCAT) and The Devil’s Gear Bike Shop. It also took place during New Haven Bike Month.
Event organizers taught Adult Ed’s diverse student body about New Haven’s e‑bike-share program and local spots like Devil’s Gear for bike maintenance. Devil’s Gear, on Chapel Street downtown, helps maintain not only New Haveners’ regular bikes but also the city’s rent-by-the-ride e‑bikes.
Adult Ed Student Support Specialist Michael Twitty said biking for students can be a hobby, a form of exercise, or an affordable transportation option.
NCAT Education Director and instructor Elias Estabrook said Monday’s partnership was possible thanks to recent grants to improve the city’s bike-share program.
Monday’s first group of students, part of the English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Program, joined the bike rodeo in the parking lot of 580 Ella T Grasso Blvd. They first signed a safety waiver, then they learned some bike basics from the Devil’s Gear team.
Devil’s Gear owner John Brehon reminded the students to at least quickly check on their bike everyday, especially before they begin to ride. He broke this down through the “bike ABCs,” which stand for the three most important things to check your bike for before getting on the road: air, brakes, chain.
First check your tires’ air, then the brakes, then the chain, aka your bike’s transmission, he said.
The students borrowed helmets, and learned how to find the best-fitting one. First they learned how to ride an e‑bike, then a conventional bike.
They learned how to adjust their bike seats. Students practiced riding on a cone course constructed by the event’s partners.
Twitty reminded them to hold the brake firm and to not pedal while making turns, otherwise the bike would speed up.
Another demonstration tasked students with riding a conventional bike and racing each other — with a twist. The race winners were not the fastest bikers but instead the slowest.
The first winners of Monday’s snail races were ESOL students Amin Sapand and Moondy Dumond. They were each awarded a bicycle headlight and a taillight.
Monday was Dumond’s first time riding a bike. Sapand, meanwhile, recalled riding bikes in Afghanistan before immigrating to New Haven less than a year ago. He said Monday’s lessons were easy and motivated him to soon secure his own bike. With his new bike lights, and a helmet and a bike lock he previously received, all he has left to get is a bike of his own.
He said getting a bike will help him get to and from his Adult Ed program easier, and it’s a clean mode of transportation, which he likes.
In another lesson, Twitty helped two high school-credit students, Gary Scott and Isaiah Hampton, practice “scanning” — which he said will help them be more aware of their surroundings on the road, particularly when making turns at congested intersections.
As they each rode on a conventional bike, Twitty stood at a distance as the students rode through the practice course. He then would randomly hold up his arm and display the number 1, 2, 3, or 4 with his fingers. Scott and Hampton had to practice looking over their left shoulder to see which number Twitty held up and then call it out loud.
“A good way to turn is tuck chin into shoulders,” Twitty advised.
High school-credit students Tunai and Abigail also took a break from class Monday to learn the “professional way” to ride a bike, as opposed to the “street way,” they said.
Tunai, who is a senior, said she was able to learn something new: the ABCs she learned from Brehon before getting on the bike.
They both agreed they prefer the conventional bikes over the e‑bikes. “They’re too fast,” Tunai said.
They both are on track to graduate in November of this year. They also agreed that Adult Education is a better academic setting for them than their previous high schools because there are less people, the staff are more supportive, and they earn learning breaks throughout the day.
“Biking is becoming a better option to get to and from work, to and from school, and at an affordable rate,” Twitty said. “We want to instill in them the proper way to use a bicycle and the safest way to navigate city streets.”
It also makes it so that no students have an excuse to not come to school when they have no ride or bus fare, Twitty added.
High schooler Gary Scott practices "scanning" over his shoulder.
NCAT's Elias Estabrook reminds students of safety requirements when biking.
Some students stay off bikes and take a coloring break instead.
High school-credit students Tunai and Abigail learn safe ways to ride bikes.
Twitty helps students overcome their fear of riding bikes.