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This is so damn smart, it hurts!
Amgen Tour of California has created an educational handbook for 4th thru 6th graders. What better time to garner support for cycling and a great race that we hope doesn’t fall off the racing roster like the Tour of Georgia.
A copy of the educational handbook can be found here.
*Chapter 13 has been dedicated to doping with special commentary by Bernard “The White JayZ” Kohl, Stephan “Where’s my ’09 contract?” Schumacher and Alexander “Must have been the crash” Vinokourov.
In preparation for the highly anticipated return of the Amgen Tour of California professional cycling road race in February 2009, a specially developed classroom curriculum has been developed for fourth- through sixth-grade students. The educational handbook will be distributed to schools in the 16 California cities that will host the 2009 Amgen Tour of California.
Already considered cycling’s most important and successful road race in the United States, the 2009 Amgen Tour of California will be expanded to cover more than 800 miles over nine days. The event’s fourth running is scheduled for February 14-22, 2009, and will showcase some of the world’s top professional cycling teams.
Through interactive lessons, the 2009 educational handbook will teach students about the history of cycling and includes bike safety and maintenance tips. Provided to more than 60,000 students, the booklet also provides information about the State of California, including targeted lesson plans that use cycling as a means to teach core subjects.
“We are proud to work with the Amgen Tour of California in bringing you an educational booklet for students in grades four through six,” said Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in his opening note to teachers. “This informative handbook – which includes valuable lessons in bike safety and maintenance, history, geography, science and math – can help make our kids safer, smarter and healthier.”
“Part of the mission of the Amgen Tour of California is to give back to the communities that we visit,” said Andrew Messick, president, AEG Sports, presenter of the race. “We always see such an incredible level of support from young people throughout the state during the race, so we designed this curriculum to further engage young Californians; not only get them excited about cycling, but also educate them on how to lead an active lifestyle and ensure they have the necessary tools to develop healthy habits at a young age.”
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The ToC runs right through my town and between the high school where I teach and one of the elementary schools across the street. Talking to the city, the goal is to have every school kid from all the various schools line the street as the come through town.
It’ll be cool to see, but I won’t be there.. I’ll be at the finish line (the next town over) drinking beer and watching it on the big screen.
But where’s the bake sale?
well, KG, if yer gonna leave the kids high and dry on the day the ToC rolls through, you oughta at least make sure they have plenty of cowbells and air horns. Awoo.
The Tour of (de) Georgia had a handbook, too, but it seems to have been directed towards a wider age group and it didn’t cover nearly as much as California’s handbook. I’m not sure if GA had a handbook every year, but I have one in the house that my kids have colored in and I’ve read with them (they are only pre-school aged, so reading comp questions about cycling probably won’t hold their attention). I think this is a great thing, but I seriously doubt that the fate of the future of the race lies in whether some 5th grader learns where the “only North American Velodrome” is… without looking at page 9, what is your answer to Lesson 3 (page 10), question 2? It must be East Point, GA – ‘cuz that’s the one closest to me… The Tour of CA will be around for a while because a lot of people in CA like cycling (at least that’s what I hope). There are quite a few cyclists in Georgia, but there are more people who think that vehicles without motors are stupid and cyclists are just dumb asses slowing down their journey to wherever it is they are going. Not a lot of support for cycling from what I experience. But here’s hoping for a return of the TdG in 2010. And best of luck to CA.