A Place to Ride
Bike are a popular present for Christmas. And no doubt many kids are jumping with excitement about their new bicycles right now. However, very soon they will get wise to the nature of the world.
Yep, within a few months they’ll know what they want next Christmas.
So let’s help deliver it to them this year.
I find this sad. In Ottawa (Canada), we have miles of beautiful shared paths. They are marked for cyclists with speed limits (although very few people seem to know them) and are shared by cyclists, walkers and runners. On Sunday afternoons during the summer, several streets are also closed to expand the network. Generally I don’t use these routes, as I want to ride more than 20 k/h and I would rather deal with vehicular traffic than wandering pedestrians (since I travel through the touristy, downtown parts of the capital), but I see a lot of parents with children riding on these paths. These spaces let people who aren’t comfortable dealing with vehicular traffic get around in a safe, pleasant way. It’s true that I occasionally get yelled at by drivers that think I should either be on the sidewalk (which is illegal) or on the bike paths (also illegal at the speeds I’m going), but most accept that I’m not in their way and we get along, I just try to stay out of the way of the people trying to get of the arterial routes to the suburbs.
sad, but and excellent commentary on the real kid cycling world
Buy a spinning bike 😀