The effectiveness of cycle training carried out on public roads was compared with the effectiveness of cycle training carried out on simulated roads in school playgrounds. Five hundred and eighty one children aged eight, nine or ten took part. the children were tested on the roads before training (pre-test), immediately after training (post-test 1) and again 6 to 8 months later (post-test 2). both types of training resulted in significant improvements in cycling performance being made from pre-test to post-test 1. Some deterioration was observed in post-test 2 but no group of children regressed to the pre-test level. The performance of an untrained control group did not change over a similar 7 month period. The road trained group performed significantly better than the playground trained group on all three manoeuvres tested (left and right turns out of a side road and a right turn into a side road) in both post-test 1 and post-test 2. Eight year olds did not benefit from either form of training to the same extent as nine or ten year olds. (Author/publisher)
Abstract