Well, I've kicked off National Bike Month in a rather typical American way. On my rump. Reading a highly informative book about bicycling! I've mentioned the book before: Pedaling Revolution: How Cyclists are Changing American Cities, by Jeff Mapes. I've biked in The Netherlands, so in a sense, I've seen the holy land. I've often wished our biking culture was more like that. But it'll take an awful lot more than wishing for that to happen. There are great programs out there aimed at getting us off our butts and into the saddle, such as Safe Routes to School. The book traces the history and hopes for this program and helped me to understand some things I got one one level but wasn't entirely getting: i.e., there is safety in numbers, thus the push for "walking school buses" -- especially helpful in areas such as ours that lack sidewalks. And that biking is harder than walking (so, if biking has too many safety concerns for your skill level or route, everyone can at least try walking). Getting kids on bikes is important, otherwise we risk raising a generation that doesn't know the joy of the wind whistling in your hair as you zip around on a bike; or more importantly, doesn't see biking as a viable means of transportation. Thus, we've been working hard to teach our kids to ride bikes safely, and let me tell you, we can easily come up with a list of excuses a mile long on why not to bike:
- Narrow, hilly streets are hard to practice on
- Cars present major safety hazards at intersections and on shared streets
- The wind and snow and rain!
Do my kids bike to school? No. But I hope they will someday. I hope we can teach them the necessary safety skills now, and that we can practice diligently to build up strong legs and lungs so that they will lust after a really great bike instead of a car as they earn the right to drive. One thing in the book that really jumped out at me:
'The great biking cities of the world, such as Copenhagen and Amsterdam, have no gender gap when it comes to bicycling. But in the US, where conditions are more dangerous, men predominate in most cities.'
Well, that sounds an awful lot like us. My husband is a full-time bike commuter. And my kids frequently ask why I never ride my bike. To which I reply 'Hey -- I ride my bike! Um. Like once. Last summer. When I almost had a coronary riding up that really steep hill.' But instead I need to change that. And I am going to! As sure as I will be cooking beans for my family on a regular basis (and I did last week -- they were sooooo yummy!). Another thing in the book that really jumped at me is the 'all or nothing' attitude we sometimes take. If we can think of bikes and use them for short trips -- like going to a corner store (which we have nearby) or to a park or camp -- then we really can make a difference. We don't have to kill ourselves to always bike if it's pissing out rain, or we can't find a family friendly bike route (although Portland's efforts to establish bike boulevards should help us) or we're just too tired. And again -- if the biking doesn't work, we need to think second of walking, and third of some kind of bus/walk/bike option instead of automatically defaulting to the car. Some excuses are OK some of the time. All of the time, not so much. I will work to change that American paradox, and become that role-model mom who really does ride a bike on a regular basis.
Therefore (drumroll please), we will make it our family's mission to ride our bikes this summer for short distance commutes (I'm thinking within a 2-4 mile radius given the ages of my kids). I know I won't be able to handle both kids and myself on bikes all of the time -- so we'll work on riding together as a family over the weekends, practicing those important safety skills, and riding by myself when I'm kid-less or with just one kid. We will chart our progress using something akin to the great little "Walk + Bike Challenge Scorecard" my 7-year-old brought home from school the other day, to mark all the biking and walking trips we achieve this summer. I will either make up summer month schedules like the one above, or have the kids draw them themselves using some of those old worksheets. We may dole out some kind of reward to our kids after we add up our summer's achievement, but I don't want to place the emphasis on that. The journey is the reward, and the younger they can learn that, the better.
I'm looking for an army of EnviroMoms willing to saddle up and make it a National Bike summer!! Are you with me?
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