Connecting Biking and Wellness: SFBike’s work at Hoover Middle School
“It’s hard to imagine that this was once a highway!”
Earlier this spring, a group of students from Hoover Middle School stood on a stretch of San Francisco’s coastline that once carried four lanes of traffic. Now, it’s a car-free park, and the final stop on a year-long journey that redefined what therapy, learning, and movement could look like.
Over the past school year, the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition’s Bike It Forward program partnered with Hoover’s school psychology team to pilot a therapeutic biking program for a small group of middle school students. Partially supported by the Outride Fund, the program paired weekly counseling sessions with monthly bike skills lessons, backed by a fleet of refurbished bikes and staff to maintain them. The goals were ambitious and deeply personal: increase physical activity, support mental wellness, and help students explore the connection between movement and emotional health.
Reaching Sunset Dunes, our newest car-free park formerly known as the Great Highway, was more than just a final ride. Many students started the year with little or no biking experience. By April, they completed a 8+ mile ride across the city. Once at the park, the rules and stress of the road melted away—replaced by laughter, free exploration, and friendly races. Some students hit the pump track with growing confidence. Others checked out dunes, sculptures, and hammocks.
We were joined by Rachel Clyde, our Westside Community Organizer, who explained the years-long fight to convert the highway into a public park,a concept the students found hard to grasp. “Why would you want this to be a road?” one asked. “Isn’t there already a big road right there?” said another.These weren’t just moments of joy, they were signs of meaningful growth: in resilience, regulation, and the ability to connect with the world around them.
The Hoover project was years in the making. Like the transformation of the Great Highway, it took sustained advocacy, deep partnership, and persistent vision to bring to life—and it worked. While full outcomes will be shared this fall, early indicators are promising. Teachers and parents have reported fewer outbursts, better focus, and rising confidence from the students involved.
Programs like this don’t happen without groundwork. It took three years to bring therapeutic cycling sessions to life. And it only works when young people have safe, welcoming places to ride. Support the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition today to power both our direct programming, like Bike It Forward, and our citywide advocacy for safe, joyful public spaces. Every young person deserves the chance to ride, to grow, and to arrive somewhere they never imagined possible.