Pyramid Coaching, Proactive Physical Therapy, and El Grupo Youth Cycling make my day.
I saw the El Grupo Youth Cycling Team after their finish of the 109 mile ride today. They didn’t yet have their official time (they rode as a single team and finished together) but they made the silver. Some of them had only been riding for three months! Nice work. I noted they didn’t look too much the worse for wear after 109 miles of hard riding, either.
And Scott Blanchard of Pyramid Coaching again teamed up with Proactive Physical Therapy to train pre-teen youths to ride the 35-mile segment of the Tour. I got to talk to Scott last year about this volunteer effort of his and I was quite taken by his commitment to this project. He is justly proud of the impact it has on the participants.
From the article:
The classes were started by Blanchard and Proactive owner John Woolf in 2007 with eight students, just one of whom dropped out.
This was the deal: 10 weeks of sessions, three times a week, including basic fitness. A bike, helmet, gloves and other accessories were theirs to keep at the end.
Preteen students from differing backgrounds were selected from such things as doctor recommendations, counseling services and schools. Applications were filled and there was an interviewing process.
Sponsoring money came from the Zuckerman Foundation and other local sponsors. Tri-Sports triathlon supplied bicycles. The seven started and finished the 35-mile with the only casualty one skinned knee.
“It was absolutely intimidating for them at first,” Woolf said of 2007’s class. “They weren’t sure what was going on. But the feedback after last year’s El Tour was a tremendous sense of accomplishment. This is an opportunity for them. It’s difficult now to get kids interested with the challenges and distractions kids face.”
Proactive Physical Therapy also has a page up on their website about this project.
My hat is off to all the coaches, volunteers, and El Tour riders at El Grupo, Pyramid Coaching, and Proactive Physical Therapy!
–Erik Ryberg
December 8th, 2008 at 9:35 am
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