Trail Moments | How the Riding for Focus Program is Transforming Student Well-Being
For middle school students, heading back to school in the fall is often a time of growth, discovery and new challenges. As students navigate new friendships and gain independence in an increasingly digital world, opportunities to get outside, move and connect with their communities can play an important role in supporting their well-being. For some students, that opportunity comes through Riding for Focus, which may help them take their first pedal strokes on a bike, build their confidence as they lead their fellow classmates on a group ride and perhaps even give them the opportunity to leave the campus boundary (during the school day!) to explore nearby trails.
Across the country, nearly 500 middle schools are implementing the Riding for Focus program, exposing students to the bicycle as a tool for supporting their well-being. The program is an initiative of Outride, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering all people to experience the benefits of bicycling for brain health and well-being, and is helping to improve the lives of youth by integrating cycling into the school day. As students develop the skills to ride safely, many classes venture beyond school grounds and out to nearby trails. On the bikes, trails that were once unknown become beacons that attract these classes of students to leave their phones behind, buckle their helmets and embark on an adventure with their classmates.
At Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Germantown, Maryland, and Flat Rock Middle School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, local trails have become invaluable components of their Riding for Focus middle school cycling program.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School (Germantown, Maryland)
John Glodek, a physical education teacher at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, has been teaching Riding for Focus since 2018. When he first received the grant to implement the program, he was eager to find safe routes for his students to ride off campus to develop their bicycling skills. He soon discovered that his school was located just a quarter mile from the Black Hill Trail, a winding 4.5-mile wooded route through Black Hill Regional Park in Boyds, Maryland. So, once his students progressed through the cycling curriculum and became competent cyclists, it was time to start taking his classes of 35 students out to Black Hill. And the impact was immediate.
He started noticing benefits that went beyond a fun bike ride in a beautiful place. “The Riding for Focus program gives our students a sense of exploration and gives them that sense of freedom that they might be lacking right now,” Glodek reflected. “You get to connect with other people that ride, see more of your community and also improve your mental and emotional health.”
Once students gain the skills and confidence to bike around their community, they get inspired to “find new ways to get to school, a friend’s house or to the pool,” continued Glodek. Speaking to the power of biking as a tool for well-being and social-emotional development, he believes that “Teaching biking should be in the same conversations as reading, writing and arithmetic.”
One of Glodek’s 8th grade students, Tyler, shared that after coming back from the ride on the Black Hill Trail, “I feel a boost in my energy and also happiness, which helped me get through my day better and was honestly a favorite part of my day.”
The impact of exposing his students to trails also extends to the wider community. Families have contacted him saying now that they know the trail exists, they regularly bike or hike it, or they go to the same park to do other activities like fishing or picnicking, or a favorite of Glodek’s students—nature bathing.
Flat Rock Middle School (Winston-Salem, North Carolina)
In 2025, Shawn Byrd’s first year of teaching Riding for Focus, she served about 500 students at Flat Rock Middle School. But beyond exposing so many students to cycling, her goal was to create a deeper impact and a memorable experience for her students.
So, Byrd—a physical education teacher at the school—set out to take students on a field trip to Salem Lake to culminate the year with their biggest ride yet on the Salem Lake Trail, which encircles the lake in eastern Winston-Salem. Over the course of six riding days, 65 students participated in the field trip. Transporting that many students and bikes is no easy feat. Byrd engaged her local community and recruited volunteers from the Black Girls Do Bike chapter that she started in Winston-Salem back in 2013.
Every single student completed the 7-mile bike ride, their longest distance yet. For 90% of these students, it was their first time ever visiting Salem Lake, less than a 30-minute drive from their school. Telling the story of the day, Byrd said, “we made history.”
Byrd’s passion emerged from a greater hope to support her students’ well-being. “I think the benefit that I saw this year was that they stepped up to be leaders, they became resilient and they helped their fellow classmates.”
These are just two stories of impact out of hundreds from Outride’s Riding for Focus program that gets 50,000+ students riding each year across the United States and Canada. When students discover their local trail, it provides them with a launchpad to grow their confidence and resilience, time to spend off screens and with friends, and a space to be joyful and happy amidst so many challenges that accompany this age. And with enough mentorship, enthusiasm and support, the benefits can build on each other and extend to the local community.
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