Highlights from On-Bike Workshops for Adults
2025 was the busiest year yet for Boston's Learn-to-Bike Program!
The Boston Bikes team from the City of Boston’s Streets Cabinet offers a series of Learn-to-Bike workshops for adults. Here are a few highlights from the 2025 season:
- 375 participants (250 unique)
- 29 staff and volunteers
- 28 workshops
- 7 locations
- 17.4 miles of educational ride routes
In 2026, we are looking to add at least one new workshop location, Ross Playground in Hyde Park, once its reconstruction is completed. We also hope to offer more educational ride opportunities!
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Feedback from Attendees
Background
Learn-to-Bike workshops are geared towards any adult who wants to learn how to bike or to gain skills and confidence biking in the city. The workshops are offered at four different skill levels, from learning to balance to riding on the street. Some of these events are reserved for women and gender-diverse adults, and some are open to all adults.
Level 1 and Level 2 workshops focus on Basic Skills, and run concurrently to each other. We hold these workshops in a large, empty parking lot. At the beginning of the workshop, participants are split into Level 1 or Level 2 based on their skills and experience. Most attendees start in Level 1, learning how to pedal. Many participants graduate to Level 2 in the span of one workshop. Level 2 helps attendees gain better control of the bike.
Level 3 workshops focus on Road Readiness. They also typically take place in an empty parking lot. In Level 3, attendees learn hand signals and participate in a set of drills that prepare them to ride in bike lanes, bike paths, and on city streets.
Level 4 workshops are educational group rides. Each route is designed so that workshop attendees experience different types of infrastructure, practice hand signals, and work on sharing paths with pedestrians and sharing the road with other road users.
The 2025 Learn-to-Bike Season ran from late spring to mid-fall. We scheduled twenty-eight workshops, however had to cancel two due to rain. Of the workshops held, nineteen were Basic Skills (Level 1 and Level 2), and the remaining seven were Level 3 and 4.
Across the 2025 season, the program had 375 total participants, 250 of whom were unique attendees. This demonstrates that many participants return to keep learning!
The workshops are free, and bikes and helmets are provided for the duration of the workshop. Registration is required so our team can communicate with participants as the workshop is approaching and prepare the correct number and size of bikes to pack in the truck!
Though designed for adults, sometimes teenagers and young adults join the workshops with the signed consent of their caretakers. This season, the youngest attendee was 12 and the oldest attendee was 80. The average age of attendees this season was 36.
This year the workshops rotated between the following locations:
- Work Inc.’s parking lot in Dorchester
- Boston and Water Sewer Commission's parking lot in Roxbury
- Mattahunt and Mildred School’s parking lots in Mattapan
- McKay School’s parking lot in East Boston
- City Hall Plaza in downtown Boston
Next season, we are hoping to add Ross Playground in Hyde Park, after it is reconstructed and a new Bike Town is added.
Thank you to all 27 staff, 2 mechanics, and several truck drivers and location hosts for making this 2025 season run as smoothly as possible, and thank you to all the attendees for joining us!
We can’t wait to resume the program and launch the 2026 workshop series in late spring!
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