Author: Hilary

Categories
Life on bikes

The right tools for the job

There’s more than one way to cycle with kids (anyone who has come along to any Kidical Mass rides will certainly know that!). Young children might be on a bike seat, or in a trailer, or a purpose built cargo bike. As they get older they might transfer to a tagalong or tandem, or ride their own bike (or sit in the amazing sort of halfway house permitted by the follow-me-tandem, where they sometimes ride independently and are sometimes hitched behind an adult’s bike).

There’s different approaches to it too – some people might ride with their kids for fun on a Saturday afternoon, others might do the school run by bike on a sunny day, and some people choose bikes as their main form of transport. We’re in the latter camp, which means we’ve gathered a large collection of bicycles (lovingly referred to by my husband as “The Fleet”) each of which performs a particular job for us.

If you’re new to cycling with children and overwhelmed by the amount of choice there is, I highly recommend the Facebook group Family Cycling UK as a place to ask for advice. I’ve directed many friends who have asked me for advice to this helpful (and large) group. If you explain your family shape, route issues (hills/narrow gates etc), storage options and budget then there is almost certainly someone with similar constraints who can share what works for them. This is much more effective than just asking one person, who can only ever really tell you what worked for them and won’t have tried the full range of options. Of course they might have completely different needs to you, making it a completely useless exercise.

That aside, Dear Reader, let me tell you what works for us!

I would describe our situation as follows: we have two children, six and three, both competent on bikes but not yet able to ride independently on most of the routes we do as the danger from traffic to an inexperienced cyclist is too high. The terrain around us is very hilly (we live by the river and our oldest is at school at the top of Caversham). My husband is very fit and I am definitely not. Both of us need to be able to transport both children. We have secure bike storage covered by CCTV. Bikes are our primary form of transport, so we consider our budget for this to be what we would otherwise spend on a car.

My “family car” is a long tail e-cargo bike, specifically a Tern GSD (shout out to AW Cycles in Caversham who stock them, we’ve seen a few around Reading now, which is really great – I think when we got ours we were the first). Both kids fit on the rack at the back (Mr 6 is on a bench seat and Mr 3 in a bike seat). The centre of gravity is very low so although the bike is heavy it’s the most stable bike I have ever ridden. The e-assist helps me up to about 15mph (after that I’m on my own), and can be set to variable levels, meaning that even with my fitness if I turn it up to max we can always get up the hill.

My husband rides a triplet, specifically one of the Circe Helios ones. This was an upgrade recently from our tandem (much loved and bought second hand in our student days, Daisy is the only bike in the fleet who we’ve given a name that has stuck). The kids were starting to argue over who got to ride on longer journeys and who “had” to sit on Mummy’s bike, so we figured they should both be able to. We have to be careful though, as the little one wants to ride even when he’s so tired he’s obviously going to nap! We haven’t tried it yet, but the triplet breaks down into three and can be packed into bags, which we’re hoping will make combining bike and train logistics on longer trips more straightforward.

Then we have various single bikes, including for the kids. If we want to take their bikes with us (but not have them ride en route) I can either haul them using the kid’s handholds and pannier bags on my bike (referred to as “bag and drag” this method involves lashing the handlebars on, putting one wheel in the pannier and letting the other trail behind) or my husband has special panniers (bakkie bags) which will do a similar job on his bike.

With this bike setup, we can run our daily logistics, and regularly do day trips as far afield as Stonor to the North or Bracknell to the South. Most importantly, the kids love being on bikes. Despite all the time we already spend on bikes they love to use the space near the garages where they can ride around safely on their own bikes (though I often don’t love being begged for “just five more minutes” at the end of the day when I’ve already been stood there for half an hour!). Ah well, such is parenthood.

I wish everyone the best of luck with the Summer holidays!

Categories
Life on bikes

Why we’re loud and proud

Kidical Mass rides are now on hiatus for the Summer (we’ll be back on 10th September at Reading Cycle Festival) but this blog is not. Many (but by no means all) of us in the organising team here are car free, and I thought I’d take the opportunity of this quiet period (ha! with the kids home from school!) to write about some of the ways that we make this work, and some of the tricks and tools that help us.

But, before we get into all that, this week I thought I would talk about WHY we talk about it at all. I know that there is a bit of a stereotype around cyclist activists sometimes being, well, to put it politely, insufferable gits. There’s a risk that when we talk about being car free that it comes across holier-than-thou, or judgemental of those who don’t have a decent alternative to car usage. Given that, why bother? Why not just quietly make our choices without feeling the need to shout about them?

I feel that parallels can be drawn here to other forms of environmental activism – many people are vegan for environmental reasons, or feel strongly about being zero waste. Our family are neither of those, and I don’t see us going that way anytime soon. But we have friends in both camps, and we hear them talking about it, and I think even though we haven’t followed suit, it does impact our choices.

We might not be vegan, but we do have a meal plan now that involves no regular consumption of red meat, and regular vegetarian meals (many of which are very tasty and recommended by friends). We might not be zero waste, but when I have recently seen someone sharing something on plastic waste I am probably more conscious of the packaging I choose when I am shopping.

For us being car free has almost become like a game now. We try and do as much as we can without resorting to hiring a car.  We’re privileged to have the resources (both in terms of energy and finances) to work out and acquire the kit that makes this possible and comfortable (more on that in a later article). I will add, though, that even a top of the line cargo ebike is cheap compared to most new family cars, so let’s not overlabour the financial privilege here.

It doesn’t have to be all or nothing though. The impact of twenty people who cut back, say, ten per cent of their car trips has a greater benefit on our streets than one person who cuts car usage entirely. Often the first ten per cent is the easiest to cut – short journeys without luggage or small passengers – and being out on a bike can be a bit addictive once you start. If a family decides that they can manage with one car rather than two that is a huge win.

This is why one of the main goals of Kidical Mass is to campaign for safer cycling infrastructure. Safe infrastructure makes it possible for a much greater number of people to take those first steps (pedals?) into cycling. It takes more people out of the bucket of “don’t have a decent alternative to car usage”. And who knows where that may lead? (If you’re very lucky, you might end up writing blog articles for a local cycling group of your friends on your day off! And right now I wouldn’t have it any other way.)

Categories
Infrastructure

Let them ride to school!

This is part of an occasional series on this blog, where we talk about particular cycling pinch points that we’d like to see addressed, in order to create safe routes through Reading that can be used by vulnerable cyclists.

Today I’m going to talk about a pinch point that doesn’t even exist yet! (Don’t ever say Kidical Mass Reading aren’t forward thinking). RBC are building a new secondary school next door to Rivermeads Leisure Centre. A lot of the catchment area for this school will be in Caversham, and it’s my belief that not enough is being done to create a safe cycling route from North of the river to the school which is suitable for heavy usage at school drop off and pick up times.




Reading the planning document for the school I found that the only adjustments for bike infrastructure were on Richfield Avenue itself. At the Caversham end this risks being another Sidmouth Street, without a good route onto the new path.

Any child cycling from Caversham will have to cross the river. This means, in reality, either over A) the cycle bridge or B) the shared use cycle path on Caversham bridge.

If they come over the cycle bridge, they are going to have to navigate the gates designed to stop motorcycles on the South bank path, which are also pretty inconvenient for bikes. So (unless these are removed) I think most of them will actually come across the shared use path on Caversham bridge (and anyway some will be coming from a direction where the cycle bridge is very out of their way).

The path on Caversham Bridge comes out at the roundabout by the Crowne Plaza, on the wrong side of the road for Richfield Avenue. This roundabout is awful to cross, even as an adult on a tank-bike. The traffic is never clear to enter the roundabout where the cycle path comes out, you take your life in your hands every time. Reading Council’s own cycle map of Reading warns against using this roundabout.

Therefore, if the kids have any sense, they won’t be going along Richfield Avenue, using the new paths built with the funding, they’ll cut straight down to the river (currently involving a blind corner, several tight turns, and a narrow path immediately adjacent to the water which is heavily used by pedestrians).

This isn’t good enough. Here’s what I think could be done better:

One option would be to improve the lines of sight and path width for the underpass and immediate surrounds. Ideally in this case you also want proper bike access to the school from the river path, and bike storage located conveniently for coming from that direction.

Another option would be to add short sections of shared use paths on either side of the road by the Moderation to connect the bridge to the proposed new bike lane on Richfield Avenue by the petrol station.

In addition, if you approach Caversham bridge from the Northwest (either on bike or on foot) you have to navigate the horrible junction by the Griffin. In an ideal world this needs a pedestrian crossing and bike lanes/bike boxes at the front on the approach.

So the actions I would like to see are

At least one of:

  • Reworking of the bridge underpass by Crowne Plaza to make it safe for higher volumes of cyclists and pedestrians, with access to the school from the river.
  • Addition of short sections of shared use paths on both sides of the road near the Moderation to allow cyclists to access the new paths on Richfield Avenue.

And also:

  • Improvement of pedestrian/bike infrastructure at the junction by the Griffin
  • Removal of motorcycle gates on Thames path between the cycle bridge and Caversham Bridge

Many secondary school children are mature enough to cycle to school independently. We are failing if the lack of safe infrastructure is the thing that stands in the way of them developing environmentally friendly and healthy habits.

Categories
Report

Kidical Mass at the Climate Festival

My husband (and Kidical Mass Reading route planner) Simon works at the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (ECMWF) here in Reading. We are lucky to have within our friendship circle many weather-adjacent scientists. Within this group there seems to be a high level of enthusiasm for choosing bikes over cars where possible for personal travel. Can’t think why (or rather, I choose not to spend too much time dwelling on it as it’s absolutely terrifying).

Far better to channel that energy into something like Kidical Mass, which aims both to support children who are already cycling, and also to push for structural change that will make cycling a safe option for more families.

We aren’t the only Kidical Mass Reading organisers with links to ECMWF, which was handy this month, because when the forecast for our ride came back with thunderstorms we told them to run it again and get a better result. You, dear reader, may tell me that it doesn’t work like that, but I shall tell you in reply that on this occasion it did. The weather for our ride in Reading (and the one in Wokingham the next day) was glorious, despite scattered thunderstorms at other times.

We had a good turnout, including one of our local councillors – Cllr Dave McElroy of Redlands. He was on foot and accompanied by a very small person who had just learned to ride his pedal bike. We assured them that as long as the little person wanted to keep going the ride would be at a pace he could handle – but that we wouldn’t be slowing down for Cllr McElroy himself! Luckily he was willing to run.

(If anyone is reading this and wondering if you could do the same, our routes are about 3-5k and we tend to go around 7km/h. The speed does vary a bit depending on the cohort of children we have on the day. We won’t leave any families behind who don’t want to be dropped but occasionally with balance bikers we have split the group so they and their parent have a dedicated marshal with them. With some little ones I have wondered if they might have enjoyed it more from sat on a parent’s bike, as 3km is a long way to scoot. We do publish our end points so meeting us there is also an option).

A delighted Cllr McElroy being conveyed on a cargo bike

About halfway the littlest rider decided he’d had enough (he’d done brilliantly for someone so new to riding). I offered that he could hitch a ride on my bike, and Balthi (of Christmas reindeer fame) scooped up a delighted Cllr McElroy and the bike the littlest rider had been using. We all rode on in style to our end point, which was the launch of the week-long climate festival in Forbury Gardens. Given how busy it was that’s hopefully a sign of how many people in Reading are enthusiastic about making positive changes for our planet.

If you do join us on future rides unfortunately we won’t be able to offer any lifts to any adults – Balthi and family are moving to Germany (and taking their Urban Arrow with them) and this was their last ride with us. Balthi’s wife Steffi has been our volunteer baker since we started, and if anyone is keen to step into the shoes please do let us know!

Our kids will really miss their kids, they’ve become firm friends through Kidical Mass, which is what it’s all about really.

Well, that and trying to avert climate disaster so our weather-scientist friends can all sleep more easily at night.

Categories
Report

From Kidical Mass Reading, with Love

Our letter to His Majesty with photos of our rides

With the international action weekend for Kidical Mass coinciding with the coronation weekend, it occurred to me that many of the things we stand for – a greener future, inclusivity and international cooperation – are themes which King Charles might appreciate. So I thought I would write to his office at Buckingham Palace and let them know about us.

King Charles as the Prince of Wales was no stranger to environmental activism. The press reported that as King he would step back from that a little publicly (though I noted that his first official engagement post coronation was related to a climate-relevant research laboratory in Cambridge). We have the advantage of being able to be slightly more outspoken than the monarchy. During Queen Elizabeth’s reign I saw many articles claiming that her hat/broach were a clear statement of her views. Here’s a clear statement of our views:

“Reading’s children deserve safe cycling infrastructure”

I wanted our letter to the King to look beautiful. I raided my children’s stamp collection to decorate the bottom of the letter with bikes (outlined in paint pen), and I put out a call in the Kidical Mass UK Facebook group for some additional photos from other rides. I saw many beautiful images and I’m particularly grateful to Kidical Mass Guildford and Kidical Mass Bridgwater for their pictures of, respectively, a huge number of cyclists and a very patriotic individual. I included these with the letter and a few pictures from our ride.

3 year old posting the letter

The younger of the Kidical Mass Interns (my three year old, who was delighted by the spectacle of the coronation) was really excited to help me post our letter to the King. I did however, have to correct a few misapprehensions. No, we weren’t personally going to visit His Majesty to hand over our letter, we would put it in the post box. No, one of the King’s guards wasn’t going to come to the post box to collect it, our friendly local postie would pick it up. The intern remained buoyant despite these set backs, as a trip to the post box is always a fun outing.

The invite extended to the King and his family at the end of our letter (full text below) is a genuine one, despite the vanishing unlikeliness of him being able to accept it. I would like to extend an equally warm invite to you, dear reader, as you too are always welcome on our rides – especially if you share our vision for a more child and climate friendly Reading.

Dear Sir/Madam


On the weekend of Their Majesties' coronation 20 "Kidical Mass" rides took place across the United Kingdom, from Inverness to Portsmouth, involving over 1500 cyclists of all ages. Our ride here in Reading was joyful and involved crowns, flags and sceptre-themed cake pops.

As the Prince of Wales, His Majesty was known for caring about our planet and seeking to safeguard it for future generations. Kidical Mass rides are organised and marshalled by volunteers. We seek to build confidence in young riders and create a community of cycling families, with the long term aim of reducing car usage.

I found one of the most beautiful themes of Their Majesties' coronation to be that of inclusion of all groups of people. The rides hope to draw attention to the need for cycling infrastructure which is inclusive of and safe for everyone, especially this country's youngest citizens.

I know the Royal Family does so much for the reputation of this country abroad. I hope it would please His Majesty to learn that so many of us used the long weekend given to us by the coronation to take part in the rides, which were part of an international action weekend. To tackle climate change, we must all work together.

Though I appreciate His Majesty's schedule will likely make this impossible, we would like to invite him and any young cyclists in his family to join us at any Kidical Mass ride here in Reading. The enthusiasm and determination of the children involved is truly inspiring, and gives me much hope for our future.

Yours faithfully,

Hilary Smart
Categories
Report Ride

Dee Caf Kidical Mass

A few months ago, the lovely Tina from Dee Caf Community Cafe reached out to Kat Heath, our intrepid leader. To start with I got most of these conversations second hand, and there was clearly a level of escalation to them.

  1. Tina was considering getting a cargo bike for the business.
  2. She had one, but had some questions about it.
  3. Tina LOVED her bike and wanted to run a Kidical Mass Ride from Dee Caf. Could we help?

Well, the answer to that was a resounding yes, though there was a bit of groundwork to be done on finding a suitable route! It was a challenge to avoid busy roads and steep hills whilst still being on routes suitable for a big group of cyclists with some rather large bikes.

It was a delight to turn up to the ride and find a really good turnout from the Dee Caf community – there were 35 riders there, almost all new to the rides. The “Kidical Mass regulars” were not many more than the team who helped organise the ride. Tina led the ride on her big business bike, and clearly personally knew most of the families there.

Tina had also invited Mayor Rachel Eden and the Mayor’s Escort (Councillor Richard Davies), and they not only came but also rode with us. I did have a moment of confusion just after the ride had started when someone radioed through that there was a delay because the Mayor had lost her chain.

“How did she manage that?” I asked, thinking it had looked pretty secure round her neck – and was told that it was not the ceremonial chain but her bike chain. She got it back on herself (a feat I’m impressed by, my strategy for bike mechanical failures is to make my other half fix them).

Cllr Davies regularly uses his bike to get around town. I was able to have a pretty detailed conversation after the ride about the issues I see around cycling access from Caversham to the new secondary school being built by Rivermeads. I think he really understood my concerns – it does make a difference when our elected representatives are themselves users of cycling infrastructure.

🧁🧁🧃🧃

After the ride Dee Caf kindly offered free cake and juice to everyone, and the kids set to work with chalk brightening up the pavement with artwork and several hopscotches. It was really special to feel that the ride was built around an already existing community, and to have the hub for that community as the start and end of the ride.

The children seemed to enjoy the ride – several of the families asked when the next one would be. Dee Caf is on the other side of Reading to most of our usual volunteers. We will need some locals to help marshal if we are going to run rides there regularly. Do let Dee Caf know if you’re keen to help – no prior experience required.

Finally, it took me most of the way through this article to realise that Dee Caf is in fact a play on the term decaf. I hope you were a bit quicker on the uptake than me!

Categories
Report

A cycling celebration

On the bank holiday weekend of 6th-8th May there were two very important national celebrations. As I’m sure all of our readers are aware, it was an International Kidical Mass action weekend. Here in the UK over 1500 riders took part in 20 rides, 55 of them here with us in Reading. The more alert among you will also have noticed that King Charles III and Queen Camilla were crowned that weekend.

It was a cause for celebration all round! Several of our riders wore crowns (despite the difficulty of combining these with bike helmets) and our recumbent tricyclist decked out his bike in flags that he had previously used when riding to Henley to celebrate a royal wedding with friends. Steffi, our lovely star baker, and her two young assistants went above and beyond on the cake front, with crown shaped biscuits, red white and blue meringues and sceptre themed cake pops.

Both of Steffi’s daughters cycled the ride completely confidently – I remember on the first Kidical Mass ride her youngest did a small part of the route on a balance bike and most of it in their box bike (the rides are a bit too long to just scoot). My three year old son now rides on the tandem with my husband, and he used to sit in a bike seat. One of the real joys of being involved in Kidical Mass has been seeing the kids’ skills and confidence develop, and having new young people join us.

Of course, developing confidence in young riders and community between families are two of the main points of Kidical Mass rides. The third is to try and campaign for improved cycling infrastructure, and for that we need the rides to be visible. The route we used was the same as the one we took last time through the town centre, and many people noticed us. As the back marker (the person at the back of the ride who makes sure no one gets left behind, and tells the leader if they need to slow down) I had several conversations about what we were doing and why. I hope some of you can join us for future rides. Do bring your friends!

Speaking of friends, one local family had invited some friends visiting from Cambridge. After the ride we had a chat about what drives differences in cycling rates between the two cities. Of course cycling infrastructure in Cambridge is well ahead of Reading, and the topography probably helps too (though with an e-bike all hills are possible, even for an unfit middle aged woman hauling two kids. Don’t ask me how I know).

The Cambridge residents mentioned that they thought driver attitudes in Cambridge are probably more cycling friendly too. Cycling is so common there that drivers are used to dealing with us and are often cyclists themselves. There’s a real virtuous circle, the more we can normalise cycling the easier it becomes for new people to join us.

Part of campaigning for better infrastructure means engaging with our councillors, who make the decisions about what to prioritise in Reading. There were local elections on 4th May and we reached out to all those Reading councillors who had been elected/re-elected to invite them to see our ride. Of course they will all have been very busy with their election campaigns and perhaps looking forward to a quiet weekend, but we were delighted that Anne Thompson of the Liberal Democrats came to see us off.

Anne said

It was lovely to see so many children (and adults) heading out on their bikes today. It was a timely reminder to me as a councillor that we need to keep pushing for joined-up cycle routes in Reading. The current provision is nowhere near enough. Safe cycle paths have to be a priority for our town.

We couldn’t agree more.

If you also agree and you would like to come and join us for our next ride, we will be meeting at the same place (the bike racks by Thames Lido) at 12pm on 10th June, to ride to the climate festival in Forbury Gardens. We hope to see you there!

Categories
People

The people behind KM — Simon

What is your current family bike setup?

We have two primary “family bikes”. My wife and I share the Tern GSD, a long-tail cargo e-bike which can carry both children and lots of luggage. We also have a tandem which I have adapted to take a child who is pedalling, as well as having a child seat.

Additionally I also have a couple of standard bicycles and we have a collection of various child-sized bicycles.

How does cycling fit into your life?

I started cycling as my main mode of transport aged 16 — I loved the freedom that it gave me, and I still feel that way every time I get on a bike.

As an adult, bicycles have always been my main way of getting around. This is especially true now we’re in Reading, which is such an unpleasant and slow place to drive in. I couldn’t imagine family life any other way.

Why did you get involved in Kidical Mass?

Although my children are currently small, and travel mostly on my bike, this won’t be true for very long. And the time that they will want the freedom to get around by themselves (that I enjoyed as a child in Cambridge) will come very soon.

Reading is a fairly hostile place to cycle until you have quite a lot of experience, and preferably some from the perspective of a driver. I really want to try and drive change such that this is no longer true when my children are teenagers.

Above that, the rides are great fun. The children love the opportunity to ride with other children and on the road, and it is wonderful to meet so many other cyclists from the area.

What is your role in Kidical Mass?

I take primary responsibility for planning the routes that we will cycle in Reading, and I lead the majority of the Reading rides.

Categories
Singing

Kidical Mass Reading Songsheet

If you’re reading this blog you probably agree with me that humanity needs to change how we do transport. Active travel and public transport must replace a large proportion of private car journeys.

If you’re human you probably agree with me that this isn’t going to be an easy task. Kidical Mass Reading campaigns for infrastructure that will help make active travel a more viable option for families in our area.

We also aim to build community with existing cycling families, and to normalise cycling as a mode of transport with the next generation. It is with these latter two goals in mind that we offer you the “Kidical Mass Songsheet”, in which we have rewritten well known nursery rhymes to be all about bikes. We hope you (and your kids) enjoy singing them!

Kidical-Mass-SongsheetDownload
Categories
Report

Kidical Mass Reading First Birthday Ride

🎂

Kidical Mass Reading launched in April 2022. This means that if it were a person it would now be old enough to sit in most child bike seats, even the ones without extra suspension. An exciting milestone to be sure (less importantly it might also be thinking about walking and talking soon, and there’s some walkie talkie news further down this post).

About 35 people gathered at Thames Lido for the ride – despite the fact that many of our “regulars” were away for the holidays. Before setting off we were reminded that the rides aren’t just “cute little fun rides”, they are also a statement that the next generation deserve space to move safely in our cities, and a chance to learn from other cycling families. Not going to lie though, we were also pretty cute and fun – my favourite was the passerby who said wonderingly, “Wow, it’s like a parade!”

🎧

On previous rides we’ve made use of a few helmet communication devices – one on the leader, one on the back marker and one on the ride coordinator who then moved through the ride instructing marshals. My husband Simon, who plans and leads the Reading routes and really loves a gadget, decided it was time for an upgrade. He acquired a large set of walkie talkies and every marshal was armed with one for the ride. It meant that as he approached pinch points he could call for extra marshals up front and they would appear almost immediately (thanks guys, you’re all amazing – special shout out to Nick with his cowbell which was great at grabbing attention and caused many smiles).

This was pretty handy, because it was our most complicated route yet. Kat Heath, our fearless leader, has been clear from the start that she wants the rides to be very visible – they work far better as a campaigning tool that way. However, safety is paramount. It is only now that we are a rather more experienced organising and marshalling team that we felt comfortable leading a ride through the town centre. If that’s not a clear sign that infrastructure needs to change, I don’t know what would be!

🚦

We were grateful to the bus drivers parked on Station Road who were all very polite to the marshals and smiled and waved as the group rode past. We used the bus lane under the railway bridge to swing through to the Caversham side of the station (only possible going North), where I saw two reminders that change is possible in Reading.

The first is the traffic light where I used to have to wait on my bike for a taxi or bus to join me before it went green. I reported it, and it was adjusted so that it can now see me. The second was the station tunnel, which the council has voted to open up to cyclists. We very much look forward to taking a ride through there as soon as it is legal to do so.

🚲

The award for Most Gratifying Kid On The Ride goes to the child who asked at the finish line, “Can we do that again?” We happily told him the date for the next ride (Sunday 7th May, 2pm, meeting by Thames Lido) but it transpired that he actually wanted to go again immediately. Sadly he had to settle for cake and playing with the other children on the nearby grass, but I hope we’ll see him (and you, dear reader) next time.