Hugh John Macdonald students are psyched on cycling
January 31, 2023
Hugh John Macdonald School students look pretty sweet upon the seats of bicycles built by two.
For over a decade, the junior high school has offered a Bike Repair and Maintenance course, where Grade 9 students work in pairs to repair bicycles and get them ready for the road.
In December, HJM converted one of its underground classrooms into a new bike shop. Additionally, the room next door now serves as a bicycle storage space.
“A bike means transportation for these students and being able to fix their bike makes biking more viable for them,” said Richard Helbig, Bike Repair teacher.
“If you take your bike to get fixed at a shop, it can cost a lot of money, but if you handle a lot of those repairs yourself, it becomes a really affordable mode of transportation. It’s good exercise too. It’s a good way to stay in shape, because it’s practical and fun too.”
“We’re also trying to give them a little bit of confidence with tools. This might be one of the few opportunities they’ve had to use tools, some of which you’ll find in other trades. If you know how to use a wrench here, you can use a wrench on a car or in other applications.”
Helbig said HJM used to receive bikes through WSD’s former School Resource Officer program. Now, the school gets most of its bikes through its partnership with The Wrench, a bike repair and cycling hub located on Logan Avenue. WRENCH volunteers save bikes and bike parts from the Brady Road Landfill.
“The WRENCH has helped us a lot over the years with bikes, as well as bike parts and tools,” Helbig said. “They also run a bike repair program here on Tuesday afternoons with an all-girls group.”
In addition to acquiring bike repair skills, the students get to keep the bikes they fix.
Mariam Wancha and Farah Abdullahi teamed up to tune up two-wheelers for each other.
“Right now, I’m changing the oil in the bearings so the wheel can roll easier,” Wancha said. “At the start of the year, we worked on my bike and now we’re fixing a second bike for my friend Farah.”
“This course is really fun. I like getting my hands messy and working with my friend is the best part about it,” Abdullahi said.
When it comes to bike repair, Helbig said Wancha and Abdullahi are on “autopilot now.”
“I had to teach them how to re-grease a bearing the first time, but this time doing it on their own,” Helbig said. “There’s a big change in skill level already, from the first bike to the second bike. Some students are already confident in their abilities. It just takes practice.”
A confident cyclist, Rainielle Sellado is currently building a bike that he will ride all-year-round, even during a Winnipeg winter.
“If you’re scared and don’t want to get in an accident, try cycling in summer first, but if you have the confidence, just do it, because it’s fun,” Sellado said.
Helbig said Grades 7 to 9 students at HJM are taught bicycle safety and handling skills and provided with free helmets, as well as locks at a low-cost.
“We ride on the road, so we don’t want to just hand them a bike, we also want to equip them with a good attitude about biking and confidence on the road,” Helbig said.
