• In Rennes, adults and children learn to ride a bike at Roazhon Mobility, the only cycling school in the Breton capital.

  • For its leaders, many people who travel by bike do not really know how to do it and should take a few lessons.

  • Installed in new premises in the city center, the school is taking part in the Fête du vélo this Saturday on the Mitterrand mall.

This is the first time she has come to class with her bicycle, which her friends gave her in 2018. As the storm rumbles over Rennes, Alma applies herself to maneuvering her bicycle well to slalom between the studs arranged on the pedestrian esplanade.

Aged 25, the young Iranian is one of the adults taking classes at Roazhon Mobility, the only cycling school in the Breton capital.

“I grew up in the megalopolis of Tehran.

It's not really a city where you learn to ride a bike,” slips the young woman into a smile that makes her eyes squint in yellow and blue make-up.

Her ambition is to be able to drive alone in Rennes, without apprehension.

“I looked at the journey times by bike compared to public transport.

Sometimes it could save me a lot of time.

And then, I will be independent.

For several weeks, she has been following the advice of Thierry, one of the school's founders.

“I have friends who often go for bike rides.

One day, they went as far as Mont Saint-Michel.

These outings, I am excluded.

There is a form of social pressure,” regrets Alma.

The young Iranian is not the only one in this case.

At his side, K. is trying to relearn how to ride a bike, more than twenty years after having abandoned it, the fault of an accident with a car.

“I was not seriously injured but it traumatized me.

Last summer, she was supposed to go on a long bike ride with friends to an island off the Atlantic coast.

“We always say that you can't lose a bike, so I took the plunge.

But I couldn't make three meters.

I knew how to pedal, but I was not at all comfortable”.

Behind her, El Haddi dismounts.

From the height of his 62 years, he admits "to being afraid of falling" when he starts cycling.

So he set his saddle quite low, to gain confidence.

“Knowing how to ride a bike is a childhood dream for me.

There's such a feeling of stillness, it's beautiful.

My objective,

it's being able to go for a walk on your own soon.

»

Contrary to popular belief, cycling is not innate, especially when you did not grow up in France.

“More than 80% of our students are of foreign origin.

And 98% are women.

As if men were ashamed to say they don't know how to ride a bike," says Sébastien His, the founder of Roazhon Mobility, who has just inaugurated his new premises in the former headquarters of Petite Rennes rue de Chicogné. .

"It's not just about knowing how to pedal"

To listen to him, there is nevertheless an important work to be carried out to "educate" France on the practice of cycling.

“It's not just about knowing how to pedal.

That, everyone acquires it quite quickly.

But stretching out your arm, looking around, behind, braking properly or knowing how to use your derailleur, many people can't do that.

“He who accompanies more than a thousand schoolchildren each year draws up a staggering observation: “Out of a class of 25 children in CM1 or CM2, only four or five really know how to ride a bike.

While the number of accidents involving two-wheelers tends to increase, the president of Roazhon Mobility tempers.

“I'm not surprised because there are more and more people on bikes and that's good.

Motorists have to adapt to it, but so do cyclists,

especially since the Covid has accelerated the phenomenon.

It's like putting everyone in a car without making sure they have a license.

»

This Saturday, his school is organizing a free ride in Rennes as part of the Bike Festival.

The opportunity for Roazhon Mobility to show itself but also to remind that the Highway Code applies to everyone.

In his school, Sébastien His learns security and courtesy.

“When I see them burning the fires, it makes me angry!

It is dangerous for them but also for other users.

»

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A great cycling and walking festival

This Saturday, the Mitterrand mall will host the Cycling and Walking Festival from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

A day of getaway to discover new ways of getting around.

Several activities and walks are planned.

  • reindeer

  • Brittany

  • Bike

  • Cyclist

  • Driving school

  • School

  • Mobility