EVENT: Eighty children with Down syndrome or autism will be taught how to ride two-wheeled bikes at the annual U-M Bike Camp the week of July 12, a childhood rite of passage many of these youth haven’t been able to master after years of trying.

WHEN/WHERE: The week of July 12 at St Paul’s Lutheran School, 495 Earhart Road, Ann Arbor. Specific session times: 8:30-9:45 a.m. session 1; 10:05-11:20 a.m. session 2; 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m. session 3; 1-2 p.m. lunch; 2-3:15 p.m. session 4; 3:35-4:50 p.m. session 5, Monday?Friday.

MEDIA: The media is invited to attend; contact Laura Bailey.

Parents and participants have signed waivers to be interviewed, videotaped and photographed. Last year’s Bike Camp participants are available for interviews upon request. Riders begin in the school gym and then graduate to the school parking lot.

EVENT: Each session will have eight participants enrolled for a total of 40 students during the week. The same participants come each of the five days at the same time and session.

About 80 percent of participants in two previous bike camps this summer in South Bend and Grand Rapids learned to ride by day five using the special bikes provided by Lose the Training Wheels, said Dale Ulrich, professor in the U-M School of Kinesiology and lead researcher on the project. The bikes have graduated back wheels that start wide, like rolling pins, and get narrower as the riders learn to balance.

This year’s study differs from past years because for the first time the study received federal funds?nearly $600,000 over three years. The federal money allows researchers to do more in-depth follow through, measure more outcomes, and triple the number of participants each of the next three years, Ulrich said.

The research study will measure frequency of riding; amount of time on average per day spent in sedentary, light, moderate and vigorous physical activity; social interaction skills; number of community activities they participate in and who they participate with; and sleep quality, leg strength, standing balance, body fat, and waist circumference.

“In this new project we are also measuring the amount of parent support for physical activity assuming that parent support will influence the frequency or lack of frequency of riding in their child with Down syndrome and autism,” Ulrich said.

UlrichKinesiologyRecord Update story