Charlotte REI Experiences

Is your child struggling to ride a bike? Our fun, proven methods have already brought the joy of biking to thousands of kids! REI's kid-friendly guides offer a perfect blend of personalized and group instruction to help conquer fears and master essential skills like balance, starting, stopping, and maneuvering around obstacles. Sometimes a single lesson is all it takes, but we gladly welcome students as many times as they'd like to attend. To ensure safety and comfort, bring a properly fitted bike for your child. They should be able to sit on the seat with their feet flat on the ground. Please remove pedals and training wheels prior to arrival (or show up at least 20 minutes early so we can help with this). Appropriate for riders ages who are at least 5 years old and up to age 12. Accompanying adults must remain onsite during the course.

During this class, our guides will help you understand a topographic map, proper use of your compass, and how to put the two together. You'll learn about magnetic north, true north, and magnetic variation (declination). After covering these fundamentals, you'll get time to practice taking a bearing from the terrain and your map so that you can make sense of your position and plan a route. This engaging course is a great introduction to outdoor navigation and map reading! Participants under 18 must be accompanied by a registered adult.

Experience the thrill of mountain biking under the care of our enthusiastic and knowledgeable guides! You'll learn and practice various riding techniques, including body and pedal position, shifting, braking, climbing, descending, and navigating minor obstacles on the trail. We'll also review important communication skills and trail etiquette to keep multi-use trails safe for every user. And finally, we'll use all these new skills on a trail ride! Bikes are provided for no additional charge. Students under 18 years of age may only attend with a registered, participating adult.