Kidical Mass Reading

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).

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.

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.

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

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!