By Margot Atchison, Franklin High School’s The Franklin Post
On Monday, June 15, the new SE Portland summer camp Biking Buds will begin its first session. Based in Ladd’s Addition, this camp is for kids ages three through 12 who want to develop their biking skills and grow as individuals within a supportive community.
There are nine weeks of camp during the summer, each offering a morning session 9 am-12 pm, an afternoon session 1-4 pm and a full-day session 9 am-4 pm. Both half-day options cost $350 per week, while the full-day option costs $650 per week.
Campers will be placed in one of four levels depending on their age and experience. The first level, called Balance Buds, is targeted at children ages three through five who cruise on balance bikes—bikes without pedals. Above Balance Buds is Pedal Pups, an introduction to bikes with pedals for campers ages four through eight. Next, Biking Blazers is for ages five through 10 to fully develop the pedal biking skills they previously learned. Finally, Old Pros is for ages eight through 12 bikers who want a more challenging experience.
Between biking instruction times, there will be opportunities to play classic camp games, says Sam Schultz, founder and director of Biking Buds. These social activities, he adds, are aimed at developing “more contextual skills like collaboration and critical thinking, teamwork, expressing yourself and taking healthy risks.” Additionally, the bike-focused education will include learning about biking’s benefits and how to maintain one’s bike.
“Our curriculum has…a development component, but it’s very much at the pace of the rider,” Schultz says, explaining that the lessons grow and change alongside campers. Most riders start by learning the fundamentals, building a solid foundation for the future. “The most effective method, whether you’re teaching a child or an adult, is to take the pedals off and have the students scoot with their feet to learn balance. Once they have learned balance and how to brake at a slower pace, you can…practice with the pedals,” says Lynn Blanchard, who has led multiple group rides with the Portland Bicycling Club—a nonprofit that hosts public bike rides.
Most of the camp’s biking will take place in the parking lot of St. Philip Neri Catholic Church, the camp’s main meeting place. However, “One element that we’ll be focusing on is preparing and conducting road rides. The Ladd’s Addition neighborhood is great for that [as it’s a] low-stakes, bike-friendly neighborhood,” adds Schultz. In the future, he plans to take the Old Pros groups to practice on bike trails or pump tracks.
Continuing to look ahead, Schultz has plans to expand the camp to include a wider range of activities. “Biking, I think, is the short and medium-term [plan].…When I think about what might become if [the camp] had success, it’s loads of different kinds of…outcomes-based skills,” says Schultz, listing activities like hiking, ceramics, soccer or basketball as potential future additions to camp programming.
To reduce the cost, Biking Buds offers multiple discounts, including an early bird discount of $25 off per week for those who register in February, sibling and multi-week discounts. They also offer sliding scale scholarships for families who apply, depending on financial need.
In addition to presenting opportunities for younger kids, Biking Buds will employ high schoolers and college students. “I have a lot of ideas around creating hiring pathways from local schools, both high schools and colleges, for general staff [like] camp managers,” says Schultz. This recruitment will likely occur closer to the summer.
Schultz hopes Biking Buds can help combat youth’s struggles with loneliness and isolation, stating, “There’s so much time spent kind of looking down [at screens], and camp is a solution that’s been around for centuries to help kids get outside, interact with their peers, learn new skills and have fun.” However, that isn’t the only problem it could solve.
“Biking can be a useful tool for exercise, which is severely lacking in today’s population,” says Kent Speed, an avid Portland biker. In the US, the majority of youth do not meet the recommended amount of physical activity according to the Physical Activity Alliance’s 2024 Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth. However, with biking, “It’s so easy and convenient and doesn’t cost a lot of money. I can just step out of my garage with my bicycle, and I’m ready to go,” says Blanchard. With its ease of use, biking could offer an accessible fitness solution to introduce at a young age.
Biking Buds has high hopes for the future, starting with providing personalized biking instruction and facilitating social connection. “I’m getting so excited for summer 2026 and Biking Buds because it’s a really unique opportunity to build a camp from scratch,” says Schultz. Biking Buds can be found online at biking-buds.com.
Sam Schultz, founder and director of the upcoming summer camp, Biking Buds. Photo by Sam Schultz.
