Remember when reading and getting exercise in school were two very different activities? You did one or the other, and doing them together would have seemed kind of silly.
Well, I’m hoping that thinking is now a thing of the past, and you can get it in your school or home.
What began as a partnership with a physician, a community foundation, and an elementary school in southeastern Michigan is the latest model of the UpCycle Ecocharger. Called the Green Microcycle, this new version will help bridge the gap between learning and exercise.
What makes the Green Microcycle such a groundbreaking stationary bike? To start with, the back wheel generator produces electricity as soon you start pedaling – generating about 20-50 watts of electricity (enough to charge a few cell phones) per child. A display on the handlebars gives riders a sense of how much power they’re producing, while the rear flywheel makes pedaling smooth and stable. Plus, the electricity produced by the Green Microcycle helps power the building.
Making the Green Microcycle even more unique is a front-mounted book or tablet holder, which means instead of bored electricity-producing riders staring ahead at the wall, students can use this “captive” time to read.
As you may already know, a few other schools use my current UpCycle Ecocharger to generate power. However, this is the first time I’ve been asked to mixed the two elements – an energy-producing stationary bike customized for a reading program.
I’m excited to announce that funds were raised to get 26 Green Microcycles installed at a Michigan elementary school. The program, called Green Read and Ride, is designed to achieve the triple objective of improving reading, increasing physical activity and fitness, and for getting kids interested in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) elements underlying the bicycle’s construction and purpose.
We aren’t just shooting arrows in the dark here either. Research shows that Read and Ride programs increase reading proficiency in elementary school students. We wanted to take it further, though. Adding my custom Green Microcycle to a traditional Read and Ride program, we can get kids to exercise, learn about STEM topics, increase reading proficiency, AND produce electricity!
Are you wondering if the Green Microcycle is tough enough to stand up to the average elementary student? As a personal trainer and green gym owner, I know what it takes for a piece of equipment to withstand rigorous use. And, as far as I know, I’m the only electricity-producing bike developer out there with this experience.
The product it’s based on has been put through the paces at my gym, at outdoor music festivals, and with elite cyclists. In fact, at the 2015 Pan Am Games, the UpCycle Ecocharger set a world record for the most people generating electricity in a week – 4,739!
Yeah, it’s tough enough.
The Green Read and Ride Green Microcycle prototype is still being tweaked a bit – you can see it in this video! – but it’s very close to completion and I’ll be ordering the 26 bikes before the end of March.
So, do you want one?
I’m so excited to get these bikes set up in the school in Michigan and the kids are really excited now too after seeing the video. I can’t think of a better way to teach kids how to be green and encourage reading at the same time.