Review: Pedalheads Summer Bike Camps

08/01/2017

Encourage a healthy, active lifestyle for your children by enrolling them in the Pedalheads fun and exciting bike camps! Since 1995, they’ve been teaching kids to go from training wheels to trails by combining exciting lesson plans with amazing instructors and small class ratios.

Pedalheads goal is to provide a class that is engaging, exciting and challenging for your child, regardless of the child’s skill level. They have classes for all different levels of skill from Riding Rookies at age 2 to Crankheads for 8+ and also offer private lessons.

Last Summer we absolutely loved reviewing the camp when our Corporate Manager’s son went from occasionally riding a Strider bike to confidently riding, steering and braking on his pedal bike!  You can read all about the fun he had here! This year, our four year old was nervous about losing his training wheels, but after seeing our oldest learn how to ride without training wheels within the first 30 minutes of her first Pedalheads class several years ago, I knew it was the right program.  Carter was riding confidently around our culdesac the very first evening after we picked him up from Pedalheads.  He breezed through level one and two and went onto level three in his Heroheads camp that we did in July.

We stuck with his smaller bike for the initial Pedalheads camp to ensure he felt comfortable without his training wheels.  I didn’t want him to feel like his bike was overpowering him.  Once he was riding without any trouble, I chatted with the instructors and asked about getting him the next size bike for the Heroheads camp, and they agreed, it would be a good idea.  Here he is with his brand new bike on Canada Day (hence the red hair!), all ready for Heroheads.  He loved that his red hair matched his new red bike!

I was worried the camp might be a bit too long as it was 9:00 – 3:30, which is longer than normal for a 4 year old camp.  He didn’t ever want to leave at pick up time!  The staff are so outstanding and because he had already done a regular Pedalheads biking class in June, he was very comfortable with the camp.  The morning consisted mostly of the same skills and drills of his Pedalheads class.  They had a snack in the morning and then took a lunch break.  In the afternoon, it was mostly games (like Red Light-Green Light on their bikes!), obstacle courses, and camp fun with Superhero themes throughout.  In Level 3, they also learn hand signals and bike safety.  You will see some photos below of Carter showing us what he had learned.  I really liked that it was all outside and super active.  He has done a few camps where there is a lot of craft time, which might not be a great fit for all kids.  If you are looking for an amazing camp for your very active kids, this is it!

Heroheads is a multisport camp with a superhero twist! By working on their uniquely designed Skills & Sports Challenges throughout the week, children will be primed for a lifetime of sports activities including baseball, soccer, archery, dance, football and more. The camp’s final day includes the Rescue Race which puts their super skills to the test in a timed course!  Carter loves anything where he is being timed and we often have timed races at the park and time him racing up the play structures at our local playground.  This exciting and fun program will leave them well balanced in their skill set, and kick-start their passion for sports.  Our four year old is definitely sporty and athletic, so this was a perfect fit for him.

Following the camp, we have taken several long bike rides, including nearly 10km, which is pretty impressive for those little four year old legs on a bike without any gears!  I am thrilled that he can being his life long enjoyment of biking at such a young age.  Here is a photo of Mommy & Carter half way through our ride!

Pedalheads and Heroheads gets two thumbs up from our family!

Pedalheads has over 75 locations in Canada and the US.  Learn more by visiting their website – some camps may still have space!