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… 🚴
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… 🚴
Our Kidical Mass rides are very kid-centric in terms of route, pace and goals. The route is always relatively short (2 miles / 3 km) and the pace is slow enough for the littlest of riders. The aim is to build kid’s confidence, create space for friendships and campaign for cycling infrastructure that is safe for them. Though, on that last point, we could (and do) argue that safe infrastructure benefits everyone.
None of this would be possible without our brilliant marshals. They seem to very much enjoy the children’s rides, but they’re definitely capable of going further and faster. So we invited them to come and join us with their bikes lit up appropriately for a Glow Ride
We planned a route that mostly ran along the roads. This turned out to be an unexpectedly useful thing as it was freezing, and only the on-road bike paths that run alongside the main car routes are gritted. Reading Council are far from unique in taking this approach, but if they want more residents to consider walking and cycling as a viable alternative to driving, they need to make sure that the main bike and pedestrian routes are just as reliable as the car routes all year round. Yes, I’m looking at you, corner of Christchurch bridge that stays frozen for hours longer than anything else and catches so many people unawares.
It was delightful riding through town with a group of bike geeks and noticing the things everyone got excited by.
Ooo look there’s a bike box at a traffic light and there isn’t a car waiting in it!
The segregated bike lane on Shinfield Road is really coming on! Can’t wait to use it.
Have you been to Kung Fu Kitchen? You really must, the food is excellent and there’s bike parking just outside.
I also noticed that, though we weren’t actively blocking traffic, we ended up with a queue of cars behind us at times (many thanks to those drivers who had the patience not to try and pass when it wasn’t safe to do so). The fact of the matter is that Reading desperately needs a well maintained network of segregated bike infrastructure. Having this would benefit all road users, and I’m including drivers in that. Enabling people to switch to bikes for short journeys will result in clearer roads and would be good for the planet on which we all rely for our existence.
The ride finished at the Bel and Dragon where we found a suitable corner to raise a glass to the successes of Kidical Mass Reading and Wokingham this year. Then we got straight down to the business of planning for next year. Wokingham’s next ride will be at 2pm on Sat 14th Jan, starting from Elms Field. The next ride in Reading will be a circular route from Hills Meadow at 2pm on Sat 11th Feb. With the nearby car park, we’re hoping this will be more accessible to families who are nervous about cycling to or from a start or end point. Do come and join us, and bring your friends and family!
Santa’s a busy man in December, so we had to plan well in advance to secure his attendance at Reading’s Kidical Mass Ride. Crucial, of course, was what method of transport would be appropriate for him — it had to be bike related.
Our own esteemed Kat Heath (of 100 Women in Cycling fame) made the opening suggestion that he should be riding on a sleigh pulled by a team of six cyclists wearing reindeer antlers. The rest of the planning team, who are blessed with a little less ambition, but a smidgeon more common sense, shot that right down on safety grounds. Can you imagine the tangle we would have got into crossing London Road?
When one of our families pointed out that their Urban Arrow box bike can safely carry an adult, it was the perfect solution. We consulted with Santa and he was keen — after all if it’s good enough for our children then it’s good enough for him. R(e)i(n)de(e)r Balthi even wore antlers and a red nose as he captained the bike.
10th December fell at the start of the very cold snap we’ve been having, and it was bitterly cold. Nevertheless there were a fair few families there and our wonderful marshals came out regardless. Many of us use bikes as our primary form of transport so we were fully equipped with layers of clothes and heavy duty gloves. If you ever have questions like how to keep a baby’s ears warm on a bike (elephant hoods worked for us), do ask!
For the first time ever as we approached London Road I was worried that drivers were getting impatient waiting for the kids to cross as a group. However, they were only honking and waving at Santa, which is allowed. Throughout the whole ride we got a positively delightful reaction from onlookers.
On arrival at Forbury Gardens Santa handed out Kidical Mass bike bells, and our wonderful bakers handed out Christmas cookies. There were bells leftover (I’m saying nothing about the cookies) so Santa left them with us — we’ll bring them to future rides so let us know if you missed out. My three year old was extremely excited to fit his official Kidical Mass bell to his balance bike when we got home. I’m not sure our neighbours have been quite as pleased.
Our kids were also very pleased to see their Grandfather who came along for the biscuits and tea in Forbury Gardens. Sadly he just missed seeing Santa, but he was very pleased to hear from them all about how much they’d enjoyed the ride.
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!
Keeping the rides safe is the thing we spend most time on when planning. Most importantly, we just don’t want anyone to get hurt, but it would also set back all of our goals if they did.
It would raise the wrong kind of awareness of cycling issues. It would not increase confidence in our child (or adult!) attendees. And, though a community can be bonded together by a traumatic event, that’s really not what we’re going for.
Maps, marshals and messages are the three key legs of our safety strategy.
October’s ride was a big success – the weather was beautiful, people came (40 of them!) on a variety of bikes (including our first recumbent trikes!) and we all arrived safely and together at Forbury Gardens.
For me, a highlight of the day was watching the children play and the adults mingle after the ride. Our three year old does not yet have the speed or stamina to ride the route, but we brought his balance bike with us and he was delighted to be able to whizz around the gardens with the bigger children.
He also offered his little bike to a one year old to have a go. Many adults also test rode each others bikes. It was great seeing the knowledge sharing of how we all make it work between families with children of different ages.
Please come and join us for our next rides! We’ll be in Wokingham on 12th November or in Reading on 10th December. We’d love to see you, as a rider or a marshal, or even just to meet you at the end of the ride.
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.
When we talk about why we do Kidical Mass, it always comes back to three C’s
And, my goodness, September’s ride was strong on that last point.
To start with, it was a collaboration between two Kidical Mass organising groups. Our good friends and neighbours in Wokingham started in Woodley and followed the planned Woodley to Palmer Park cycle route, where they seamlessly flowed into the start of our Reading ride.
To finish with, our destination was the Reading Cycling Festival – we swung over Christchurch bridge to arrive at the festival as a 65 strong group – I’m informed we were a very impressive and encouraging sight!
In the middle, our wonderful marshals kept us all safe, pedestrians pointed and took pictures, and drivers were generally very well behaved – we got lots of waves and smiles! And the kids, of course, were all brilliant.
At the festival Kidical Mass shared a stand with WATCH Wokingham (if anyone was wondering what Adrian had in his trailer on the ride, it was everything needed for the stall!). We also met in person some of the lovely people behind other local cycling groups – watch this space for some exciting collaborations regarding post ride activities on future rides!
We were grateful to Woodley Councillor Carol Jewel for finding the ride and volunteering to help as a marshal. All are welcome at our rides – but it’s especially wonderful seeing our elected representatives take our issues seriously.
If you want to help us further our aims, any of the following would help:
Sunday 25th September was both the Reading Cycle Festival and a Europewide Action Weekend for Kidical Mass. So of course Kidical Mass Reading and Kidical Mass Wokingham joined forces, and around 65 people rode together to the Reading Cycling Festival.
Our rides are family friendly and fun and help adults and children to build connections with other enthusiastic cyclists. We also give young cyclists the opportunity to build road confidence, by giving them a safe marshalled environment to practice in. We are very grateful to the volunteer marshals who gave up their time to make this possible.
Children and teenagers need and deserve cycling infrastructure that allows them to navigate safely. Cities that offer spaces that are safe for children are good for everyone. There is a lot of work to be done in this regard in Reading and Wokingham, but there is increasingly a political will to make improvements. We were delighted that Councillor Carol Jewel joined the ranks of councillors who have ridden with us to see first hand the issues at play.
On arrival at the Reading Cycling Festival our young riders enjoyed watching Urban Display’s stunt riders, and many of them had a go at the mini obstacle course.
If you want to add your voice to ours (and have fun with us!) then please join us for our next ride on Saturday 8th October, meeting at 11am by Tutus in Palmer Park. All are welcome.