A hot and sunny weather for our ride today, but the breeze kept the 30 of us in shape, and we all arrived safely at the Reading Climate Festival in Forbury Gardens.
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June 2023 Reading ride
Category: Ride
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.
- Tina was considering getting a cargo bike for the business.
- She had one, but had some questions about it.
- 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!
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May 2023 ride
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April 2023 ride
Today was our 12th ride, and our one year anniversary! Remember when we started it back in April 2022? We do!
We tried a new route today, going through Reading town centre, to add a bit more visibility and fun.
Have a look at the pictures below, and join us for the next one!
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March 2023 ride
We were very lucky with the weather on today’s ride! It rained the day before, and it rained one hour later… Despite that, about 40 of us showed up, and we enjoyed a nice ride around Wokingham, with many kids wearing big smiles.
A small incident occurred near the end: a pedal fell off from a young girl’s bike! But she pedalled on, and finished under a round of applauses from the rest of the group. She was extremely proud to have shown resilience!
Oh, and this week, we also had a very nice article in Wokingham.today with an interview from Kat explaining the goals and ideas of our Kidical Mass rides.
See you in the next one, and ride safely! 🚲
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February 2023 ride
We had a very nice ride in Caversham today. We picked a circular route this time, to make it easier to organise. Well done to all the 40 people who joined!
See you in the next one… 🚴
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January 2023 ride
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December 2022 ride
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November 2022 ride in Wokingham
Kidical Mass was back in Wokingham this weekend, with over 50 young and old riders on all manner of cycles enjoying the extraordinary weather for a short cycle around some of the town’s roads.
Kidical Mass is a fun, family activity with a serious message: highlighting the need to make our roads safe for people of all ages to travel by bike – to school, to work and for fun. These group rides give everyone the chance to ride on the roads in company and safety, with the help of adult guides.
As normal, the drivers and others we met on our way were delightful, with any short inconvenience outweighed by the pleasure of seeing so many kids having fun.
We were delighted to be accompanied by Wokingham Town Mayor Maria Gee. After the event Mayor Gee said:
Cycling in a mixed friendly group really helps with road confidence. It was wonderful to see families and friends cycling together and children able to ride on the road in safety.
Kids want the freedom and fun that comes from getting around by bike, but many of the places they want to go involve roads with heavy and fast moving traffic and hazardous junctions. The next generation care deeply about living sustainable lives and it’s more important than ever that we create the space for them to do so.
Kidical Mass rides are running monthly between Reading and Wokingham. Join us for the next one!
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October 2022 ride photos
Today’s Kidical Mass ride went from Palmer Park to Forbury Gardens and was attended by about 40 people.
The ride proceeded down the Kennett towpath accompanied by the music of bike bells, children’s chatter and ‘I Want to Ride My Bicycle’ by Queen.
Many thanks to the marshals who helped us to make the ride a safe and relaxed experience for all involved. It was lovely to see the smiles on the faces of pedestrians, cyclists and drivers as we passed by.
After the ride participants mingled and ate cake and the children rode their bikes together and decorated the ground with pavement chalk.
