FRANKLIN LAKES

Ramapo/Indian Hills rolls out state's first mountain biking course

Bergen

Oakland — One calf remains positioned over a pedal, the other leg extended as a kind of kickstand. Nylon straps secure the helmet snugly against the cranium. Gears click as they shift at different intervals, signaling respective comfort levels.

This was the Indian Hills’ sixth period mountain biking class and it was going without a snag in the chain.

With guidance from teacher Dominic Mulieri, the students embarked on what is the culmination of a nearly year-long effort to bring a new mode of fitness into the district. After unlocking 11 of the 60 newly purchased Fuji Nevada bikes, students were led down to the grass field adjacent to the Hank Boggio Field, where they rode single-file in circles, practicing basic skills such as maintaining a safe distance from the rider in front of them and keeping feet level on the pedals.

"It’s still new for them, but they’re having fun with it," said Mulieri, who also coaches football and wrestling. "They’re really excited about it, just as we are as a staff. Especially once they heard we’re one of the first in New Jersey and [on] the East Coast to have a program like this."

The Sept. 23 class was one of the last before the students were to get a chance to ride their bikes through the two 1-mile loops created at each school. The courses overlay grass fields and wooded areas on the fringes of each campus, and were physically established by two Boy Scouts in their bids to reach Eagle Scout status, with the help of the district’s maintenance staff. The loops, the bikes and the classes were all components of a collaboration between Superintendent Beverly MacKay and district director of curriculum Daniel Sutherland, himself a longtime cycling enthusiast.

"I got into biking back in 1991," said Sutherland. "Now I mostly just ride on the road. You ride in a certain area long enough, you get to know people."

And some of those "people" were instrumental in helping put together the inaugural program. One was Ben Tufford, a longtime cycling coach and a member of the International Mountain Biking Association’s instructor certification program since 2015.

Together, Tufford and Sutherland designed an IMBA course specific to the two bike paths. In the last week of August, Tufford took six teachers, three from each school, through two days of Level 1 training.

The first day of training focused on skills and safety. The second day offered trainees a chance to practice what they learned and in a group environment.

"It went really well," Tufford said. "Most of them [the teachers] had never done any significant mountain biking before. When you’re coming into it, it could be a challenge. But they’re all very fit adults. They know the learning process. They had a lot of good energy."

Both staff and students share excitement about the classes and their potential, with teachers viewing them as means to evince participation from the widest range of students.

"We have the best facilities," said Rich Burton, district supervisor of athletics. "We have an outdoor education program; a high ropes program. We have so much to offer these kids and now it’s just at another level."

And students have already begun to ask about implementing a competitive league and creating a mountain biking team. Sutherland said that he is open to introducing mountain bike racing into the district and was a speaker at the Sept. 24 New Jersey Interscholastic Cycling League’s Leaders Summit, espousing the benefits of integrating biking into education.

Sutherland said he has already been in touch with Tom Kruse, league director for the New Jersey Interscholastic Cycling League, who said the league would launch in April with a goal that students years down the road would be unable to imagine "schools without mountain bikes."

As the initial safety training ends and classes move from the grass fields onto the dirt paths, one thing that unites staff is the push to get kids involved, active and confident.

"It reaches that kid that may not be into sports or may not be into some of the activities that we offer," said Burton. "But mountain biking? That might spark a kid who’s not into sports. Our philosophy has always been to give the kids an exceptional experience and something they can take with them."

"I look at cycling as a lifelong fitness activity," said Sutherland. "It’s something that if you have a bike, you can go out and do it. This just opens up another avenue for students to find something and discover something that resonates."

E-mail: torrejon@northjersey.com