Isaiah Penner has been cycling to school every single day for the last three years.
He started the tradition in grade 5, and is now heading into grade 8.
There are two main reasons he bikes to school: because it's a fun thing to do, and because it saves him time.
“I see all my friends go on the bus at 8:10 and I'm going at 8:30. And then I'm getting home 10 minutes before them everyday, so I get more time at home.”
He notes he never misses a day because he loves to challenge himself, but there were some tough days when he questioned why he was doing it.
“There are some days in winter where you're carrying your bike on your back over the snow drifts, so it's just heavy. And then just thunderstorms and rain and all that stuff.”
His dad, Greg Penner, says the tradition started when they got an email from the school division saying that school bus rides were going to look different due to COVID.
“So I said, why don't you take control and you can bike to school on your terms, and if you do it (every day) for a year, we'll give you some kind of prize.”
Penner says the prize has become almost irrelevant to his son.
“Because now he's kind of taken it upon him ‘I have to bike to school’, so it's just day in, day out, no complaints. It's pouring rain, he just packs extra clothes and goes to school. Soaking wet, changes, carries on.”
Isaiah’s prize this year was a pizza party.
“He goes all out for this pizza party. He got a large pizza and then he went and got bags of french fries. He got the pop and then he finished it with ice cream," he says. “The bike ride is only a mile each way, but you know all those calories I think he got back in one single day.”
Penner remembers around the end of May there was a day with intense thunderstorms in the afternoon.
“We got an email from the school that said, ‘due to the thunderstorms you need to pick up your child today’ because obviously danger or whatnot,” he says. “A few minutes later, my wife gets a text from him that says ‘mom, do not pick me up, I am biking home no matter what.’ He was willing to take the storm, maybe not the best parenting move, but we're pretty proud of him.”
He says that there was a day when his derailer, the rear mechanism, tore off his bike.
“It messed up the whole chain, so he had to drag his bike home,” he says. “Some days are certainly more challenging than others, and he just keeps on going.”
Penner says watching his son be so determined for something really speaks to his character.
“We're immensely proud of that determination, that willingness to just go. ‘No matter what the circumstances, I'm going to show up, I'm going to keep on going. I got a goal, and it's going to happen.’”
With files from Corny Rempel