This KOMO report on school bike train research in Hillman City is pretty much awesome. I cannot wait to see the results of this Seattle Children’s study by Dr. Jason Mendoza and Maya Jacobs. We wrote about the study when it was first getting started, so it’s great to see it in action.
In essence, the researchers started a bike train for kids, who wear activity monitors and heart rate trackers. There is also a control group of kids who wear the trackers but don’t bike to school. The researchers want to have data to observe the effect of bike trains on health.
But even without the data, the bike train is building community and making the kids eager to go to school. Even if there were no health benefits at all, bike trains to school are still awesome.
The girls’ aunt, Nadia Herrarte, says they wait by the door, anxious for the bike train to take them to school.
“It has been a huge change because now they work out a lot,” she said. “They are biking to school and they come home biking so they are well wore off when they come home. Their biking skills are better. Now they know the signs. They have more safety skills.”
Dr. Mendoza got National Institutes of Health funding for the study after noting a correlation between the epidemic rise in childhood obesity and a decline in bike riding.
Awesome! Now we just need more bike lanes and infrastructure so they have more safe routes.
LOVE.
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