Freiker (short for frequent biker rhymes with biker) is substantially increasing the number of children regularly bicycling to school. Freiker uses advanced technology to count and provide incentives for kids who ride to school.

Technology and Prizes

The ridership numbers are automatically counted and sent to this site by a Freikometer. The Freikometer is one secret to our success, and the other is our prizes . Everybody can win a prize. Freiker is not a competition between children, classes, or schools. The combination of our two "secrets" gets more kids on their bikes to school, more of the time.

The Freikometer is a solar-powered computer that reads an RFID tag taped to riders' helmets. Each day, a Freiker rides past the Freikometer, and a buzzer sounds to indicate the ride has been logged. The Freikometer wirelessly uploads the rider data to this website daily, and the child or parent can log on to our website to see the number of rides accumulated. The Freikometer does the counting, and the prizes provide the motivation.

See a video about the Freiker program [link to come].

Benefits of the Freiker Program

Kids love tracking their progress, earning prizes and being part of a movement. But Freiker's appeal goes far beyond the kids. Parents also love the opportunity to get out on their bikes to ride with their kids to and from school. And schools love seeing buses and cars replaced by a group of parents and kids congregating around the bike racks.

And Freiker gets results. Check out our Results page to see how Freiker has doubled ridership.

At Freiker, every ride counts. Every ride:

• Promotes physical activity and combats childhood obesity: The prevalence of overweight children and adolescents has doubled over the past 20 years. The U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services recommends that children engage in at least 60 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity most days of the week, preferably daily, to promote health and psychological well-being. The trip to and from school is a perfect way to meet that recommendation.

• Fosters self-reliance: Children gain confidence when they don't have to rely on their parents or a bus to get them to and from school.

• Increases alertness: Studies show that regular physical activity results in more alert individuals and even promotes brain activity.

• Reduces traffic congestion/better air quality: More kids on bikes means fewer cars on the road, and fewer cars idling in front of the school in the mornings and afternoons.

• Promotes sense of community: Many parents ride to school with their children, and schools benefit from the impromptu social gatherings that occur around the bike racks.

• Encourages helmet use. Since the RFID tags are on the helmets, children who ride without helmets aren't counted by the Freikometer.

Interested schools can click here to get more details about starting a Freiker program.

Parents, click here to find out more about your kid's participation in Freiker.