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Ride

Christmas 2024 ride in Reading

We had 25 happy riders today, including Santa Claus himself! πŸŽ… Santa was riding on a triplet, with a reindeer leading him safely in town, from the Lido to the Palmer Park.
There were even gifts at the end… 🎁

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Ride

September 2024 ride

Circular ride from the Reading Cycling Festival, with around 90 happy riders β€” probably our most popular ride so far!

How many bikes can you count?

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Next rides

Our next rides

Save the dates for our next Kidical Mass events, in Reading and Wokingham. No need to book: just turn up and enjoy a safe, family-friendly, joyful ride with us.

Sun 1st December, 2pm in Reading

Christmas ride πŸŽ… β€” circular ride from the Thames Lido
You can register on the Facebook event

Sunday 15 December, 2pm in Wokingham

Christmas ride πŸŽ… β€” circular ride from Elms Fields Playground.

Sunday 19 January, 2pm in Reading

Circular ride from the Sports Cafe, University of
Reading campus

Sunday 23 March, 2pm in Reading

Circular ride from Tutu’s in the Palmer Park

Saturday 17 May, 12pm in Reading

Circular ride from a location to be confirmed!

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Ride

July 2024 ride

A summer ride β˜€οΈ with a very wet forecast 🌧️ but we managed to avoid the rain miraculously!

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People

The people behind KM β€” Alex

What is your current family bike setup?

I’ve got a couple of bikes. For a long time I used to ride a Charge fixed gear bike I bought on eBay, but as my commute has changed (and my fitness has declined!) and includes more hills I’ve invested in a geared touring bike.

When the kids were very little I used a Burley Bee cycle chariot and a front seat to take them both to nursery, but as they’ve got older and we live near their school I no longer have that set up. It’s a shame as they used to enjoy the journey and it was very satisfying cycling pass the cars going nowhere in the rush hour traffic jam on the Reading road, and the slightly unorthodox set up was always a talking point with parents in the car park.Β Β 

How does cycling fit into your life?

I use a bike to commute to work and for local journeys. As both myself and my wife work, this allows us to only own one car, which is a big plus given that we don’t have any off road parking at home. 

The kids cycle, although we live within a short walk of their school and so don’t need the bikes on a day-to-day basis. 

Why did you get involved in Kidical Mass?

I started cycle commuting (and subsequently got more into cycling) when I moved to Reading in 2010 and have been a member of the Reading cycle campaign (RCC) since then. A few years later we moved to Wokingham and I got involved with the Wokingham Active Travel Campaign (WATCH).

It was at a RCC meeting that I heard Kat talk about Kidical Mass and how she wanted to set it up locally, I was really impressed with her drive and enthusiasm and the idea of Kidical Mass, as a way of getting a broader cross section of people (beyond the Lycra MAMILs) out on bikes and so got her details. I helped marshal some of the early Reading rides and really enjoyed the fun and support that can sometimes be absent at cycling events (not all!) I have attended in the past.

WATCH had been looking for a cycle event we could put on in Wokingham and after chatting with Kat, we agreed that we would run a Wokingham ride every other month under the Reading (and Wokingham) Kidical Mass umbrella. 

What is your role in Kidical Mass?

I am one of the organisers of the Wokingham KM events and try and help out with many of the Reading events as I can get to.

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Ride

May 2024 ride

Ride in the Reading Campus, for the University of Reading community festival – very well attended with 50 people at the start, and no rain!

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Ride

April 2024 Reading ride

We had an amazing ride today, for the national action day of Safe Streets Now, with around 40 people, including 3 Reading councillors!
Full report available next week, but photos available right now:

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Ride

February 2024 Wokingham ride

We had a rather low turnout of ~20 for our ride in Wokingham today β€” maybe because of the yellow warning of rain, issued just before. 🌧️⚠️
In the end, we didn’t have any rain, and this just meant we had more cake at the end. We have photos to prove it! 🍰🍰

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Ride

February 2024 ride

Slightly wet ride today, with about 35 people, and a new route that brought us on Blake’s Wharf through Filbert Street, which many of us discovered today! Hot chocolate was de rigueur at the end.

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Ride

January 2024 ride

We had a lovely, sunny ride away from traffic today, on the campus of the University of Reading, enjoyed by 50 people. We also had our Annual General Meeting there, but there will be more on that later.
Check the pictures!

Also, for the people asking: the hot chocolate at the end of the ride was Twinings Swiss, and it is indeed very nice β˜•