The Freiker program began at Crest View Elementary in Boulder, Colorado in the spring of 2004. The founder,

Rob Nagler, couldn't convince his children to ride their bikes to Crest View, less than one mile away. However, once Rob offered them small prizes, he found his kids regularly pedaling to school. And they were having fun doing it. Rob realized he had stumbled upon a great way to motivate other kids to also ride, and soon Rob and his newly minted deputy, Tim Carlin, were standing out at the Crest View bike racks every day handing out punchcards and prizes to a growing number of kids.

It didn't take too many cold, rainy or snowy mornings for Rob and Tim to realize that technology could significantly reduce the need for them to be at the school every morning. During the 2005-06 school year, Freiker experimented with using bar codes on the kids' bikes and a handheld bar code scanner, which at least allowed Rob and Tim to sleep in and scan the bikes after the kids were already at school.

In the summer of 2006, Rob disappeared into his basement and emerged weeks later with the first Freikometer. With the launch of the Freikometer, two more schools joined on for the 2006-07 school year, bringing us to three schools in the Boulder Valley School District.

The 2007-08 school year was our best year yet. Kids at five schools in the Boulder Valley School District logged a total of 54,000 rides. In early April, Freiker had its most successful launch ever at Burlington Elementary in Longmont, Colorado. Burlington, which is also the first school that has included walkers in the Freiker program, had 1,000 round trips by bike and by foot in just two months.

For the 2008-09 school year, we are beginning our national rollout, adding schools in Eugene, Oregon, Madison, Wisconsin, and other locations. Our goal is to have 15 to 20 schools using the Freiker program by the end of the year.

Milestones

2004

• Freiker begins with a punch card system at Crest View Elementary.

2005

• The program switched to a bar code system where children's bikes were scanned with a hand scanner each day.

2006

• Freiker installs the first-ever Freikometer at Crest View.

• In December, two more schools (Foothill Elementary and Horizons K-8) joined our program.
• Freiker received its first grant from the Boulder Valley School District Safe Routes to School program.

2007

• Two additional schools joined the program (Casey Middle School in Boulder, CO and Eldorado K-8 in Superior, CO).
• Freiker receives its 501(c)(3) status.

2008

• Freiker launches its first walking and biking program at Burlington Elementary in Longmont, CO.
• 1 World, 2 Wheels (a Trek Bicycles commitment) becomes Freiker's first National Sponsor.
• Freiker begins national rollout.