Trek Bicycle Corporation has made a major grant to Freiker, Inc., a bike-to-school program based in Boulder, Colorado. Freiker, short for “FREquent bIKER,” will use the grant to expand its successful program to communities and school systems hungry for a proven approach for getting kids to ride bikes as the primary method of getting to school.


“With Trek’s support, well be able to expand into more communities across the country resulting in more riding, fewer car trips, and healthier kids,” said Zach Noffsinger, Freiker’s Executive Director. “Trek is to be commended for making a no-strings-attached gift — they share our vision and were grateful for their support.”

“This is exactly the sort of program 1 World 2 Wheels is proud to support,” noted Trek’s Director of Advocacy, Rebecca Anderson. “It gets kids riding, provides measurable results, and energizes the school community. Ive seen it work, and it’s terrific.”


According to a statement, Freiker is a technology-enabled program that has been operating for the past four years at several schools in Boulder and Longmont, Colorado, with participating students making over 27,000 round trips to school in 2008. This year, Freiker has added programs in Madison, Wisconsin and Bend, Oregon. Kids, parents, and school administrators all love the Freiker program for the way it makes biking to school both safe and rewarding. Freiker provides an automated and reliable method of counting each ride, tracking results, and distributing incentive awards to riders. Freiker has also earned funding through the national Safe Routes to School program.


Boulder parent and entrepreneur Rob Nagler dreamed up the Freiker program as a way to motivate his kids and their friends to ride to elementary school. Nagler wanted to move beyond volunteer-intensive counting techniques and use technology to make the program more fun and reliable. The Freiker technology consists of the Freikometer (a solar-powered radio frequency identification, or RFID, reader mounted on a post at the school yard), RFID chips attached to each rider’s bike helmet, and the freiker.org website. A rider cruises under the Freikometer, which instantly identifies the student, emits a fun and distinctive bell sound, and then wirelessly uploads data to the Freiker website, where participants can go to track progress towards their riding goals.


Crestview Elementary School principal Ned Levine reports: “Our bike racks are overflowing. Everybody at Crestview — the kids, the parents, the teachers and the principal — loves the Freiker program.” Boulder Valley School District official Landon Hilliard observes, “I call it the ‘smile index, and I can see it on their faces. Theyre happy to be on their bikes, and they know that they are part of a movement.”