‘Tis the season of giving back! Ned Overend, a one-of-a-kind mountain bike legend just signed on to serve as one of Outride’s Athlete Ambassadors this fall. Ned joins over two dozen racers now on-board dedicating time and talent to mentor our Riding for Focus students.
Read MoreHoback Sports has been working with Outride to introduce cycling education in their local schools with a goal of improving social, emotional, and cognitive health. Hoback delivered a dozen donated bikes to the Red Top Meadows School last year to be used for their program and just delivered 30 more bikes to Jackson Hole Middle School this fall.
Read MoreDedham School is a small PK-8 school in rural Maine where the staff strives to find ways to reach every student who walks through the door. Tim Pearson works as a physical education and health teacher at the school and helped secure the Riding for Focus grant from Outride this fall. The school was the only one in Maine to receive the grant this year. Students are more than just along for the ride of a new bike program brought to their town.
Read MorePresident and Founder Mike Sinyard welcomed the champions and guests and delivered the news first hand of Outride—the new name and rebrand of the Specialized Foundation and the new Outride Fund—a dollar for dollar match fund to empower local communities to launch a variety of youth cycling programs.
Read MoreThere were 67 Riding for Focus School Champions greeted with gusto at Specialized Bicycle corporate headquarters this past month to attend the official training for Riding for Focus program that kicks off this fall at each of their schools..
Read MoreWhat happens when a local non-profit works non-stop with their local community to get more kids on bikes, raises funds for the purchase and has the support of the local retailer to build and maintain them? Score!—Riding for Focus is launched at Naperville North.
Read MoreThere’s a lot of new kids on the block—of course riding bikes! The Specialized Foundation announced 41 new middle school grant recipients for the 2019-2020 Riding for Focus school program. With the addition of these new schools, The Specialized Foundation will now support more than 33,000 new students next year, across 130 schools, in 45 states and Canada.
Read MoreLast summer, the first shipment of Riding for Focus Bikes landed at Lookout Valley Middle School in Chattanooga, Tennessee. School Champion Dan Basler gave a major shout-out to Eric Wagner, Managing Partner and the entire team at Cycle Sport Concepts Chattanooga for the bike builds.
Read MoreFrom the source! Spoken words directly to you from a few of our Riding for Focus Students and Teachers of Everitt Middle School in Wheat Ridge, CO who wrote letters to The Specialized Foundation about their experience with the Riding for Focus Program.
Read MoreDo you remember your first-ever bike ride? Did someone help you balance on two wheels or did you fly solo and learn on your own? Our new Athlete Ambassadors are each special in their own unique way and give beyond 100% to make their dreams come true.
Read MoreYes! Giving some Love to our Riding for Focus Schools and Champion Retailers this Valentine’s Day!
Read MoreHigh Fives to our friends at BikeRadar for the great story about The Specialized Foundation and how it all got started by the vision of Specialized President and Founder Mike Sinyard. Get inspired to learn how the current Under 23 XCO World Champion Alan Hatherly will be racing alongside the former champion Sam Gaze for the 2019 Absa Cape Epic.
Read MoreWhat happens when XTERRA pro riders visit Maui Prep Academy, a local Riding for Focus middle school after racing the XTERRA World Champions in Kapalua, Hawaii? The athletes share abundant tips on riding, bike skills and how they use cycling to stay focused when training and racing. Sound familiar? Race—Ride—Focus!
Read MoreLet’s OUTRIDE ADHD! The Specialized Foundation is now accepting Riding for Focus grant applications for the 2019-2020 academic year. Applications will be reviewed as they are received. The grant window will close February 14th, and the final decisions will be announced April 17th.
Read MoreAfter being awarded the Riding for Focus grant from The Specialized Foundation, Duval Charter School Southside has been integrating cycling lessons into each middle school PE class. With twenty Specialized Pitch bicycles and helmets awarded to the school to use,the teachers are following a curriculum designed to help students become “Road Ready” where they learn how to ride safely on and off the trails by improving their balance, awareness, and general cycling safety.
Read MoreOne of the best ways to get involved is in your own community. Our community is Riding for Focus brought to you by The Specialized Foundation. Help us help kids. With one in eleven schoolchildren being diagnosed with ADHD, you probably already know a kid who has trouble focusing or concentrating at school because of it. The Specialized Foundation exists today specifically to tackle this issue.
Read MoreIt was high-fives all around when the kids from the Boys & Girls Club of North Lake Tahoe saddled up and pedaled brand new Specialized mountain bikes near the club's Kings Beach facility as part of a donation from the Tahoe Fund.
Read MoreLedyard Middle School, is located in Gales Ferry, Connecticut and is one of the newly granted Riding for Focus schools that formerly launched their program this fall. School Champion Kristen Gallagher applied for the grant last spring.
Read MoreWant to ride with 3X World Road Champion Peter Sagan? Ride with us at the Sagan Fondo on November 3rd in Northern California in Windsor. Don’t miss out—it’s wine country!
“California is like a second home to me, so I love coming here and experiencing these roads with everyone else while raising money for a good cause,” Sagan shared.
Read MoreThis month, we salute our Riding for Focus partner schools nationwide that have programs supporting more than 20,000 students, across 77 schools, in 30 states. The program integrates cycling into the physical education curriculum as a means to help students achieve academic, health, and social success.
We tip our helmets to each and every one of our school champions who dedicate endless time and energy to the students and bring our Riding for Focus program to life.
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