No, you didn't miss a post, it's been a wee bit busy round here with starting the new job and also re-starting dad's taxi service for my kids' evening activities. I've been neglecting my favourite forum!
I've done two days now in the new job and I am thoroughly enjoying it. I'm working with two other instructors until the end of today, before I'll be changing location and working with others. Not even yesterday's rain could spoil it. We finished delivering the course to the first group at lunchtime yesterday, it's hammering it down with rain, and the kids are complaining... that they have to go back into class and couldn't they pleeeeeaaaasssse stay out longer on their bikes with us?
The second group that we started working with yesterday afternoon seems to be just as promising as the first
We did have to stop one child riding her own bike as it wasn't safe - missing grips, seized back brake, extremely frayed cables. She won't miss out though as she'll use one of the company's spare bikes. Parents are given a checklist with diagrams of what to look for to see if their child's bike is roadworthy before the kids start the course.
It's fantastic how quickly the kids were picking everything up and putting it into practice, and great to see them smiling as they were learning. It's very early days, but this does seem like a very rewarding job with the added bonus that we will hopefully see more people out cycling.
As an added extra bonus, yesterday morning when driving through the city to the school (I live out in the country so the car is unfortunately necessary for this location, but once I'm more trained I'll be working in schools closer to home within cycling distance), I saw a family tandem with baby seat - mum, older child and younger child on their way to school/nursery. It was fantastic to see and I can only hope to see more
Good job i have my bike!
