Kidical Mass ReadingToday 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!
We have two adult bikes that my husband and I share: his regular bike and an Urban Arrow family cargo bike. Our daughters (4 and 6) both have bikes with pedals.
We also own a trailer and a bike seat although we use both very rarely these days and prefer the cargo bike.
We have a special pannier bag on the cargo bike that allows us to attach kids bikes if they get tired, increasing the range for all-family cycling trips.
Years ago, when I started university, I didn’t like cycling much, rather preferred my inline skates. During my time at the university I gradually used the bike more and more, to the point when I used it for almost everything in my daily life.
Once I actually got frustrated with my husband when he recommended I should not cycle any more on the icy roads using my half-broken bike at the time, while being pregnant with our second child and towing a toddler in the trailer. (Retrospectively I absolutely see his point but back then, it felt like he was taking away my freedom).
Long story short, since then we moved to the UK and I needed to look for a new bike. At the beginning of the first COVID lockdown, we decided to buy a cargo bike. At that point it felt like we got our freedom back. We were able to go on cycle tours and with very few cars on the road, we felt safe even on lengthy cycling tours on country roads.
We now use the bike every day for school runs. It’s nice being able to pass all the cars waiting in traffic – making the commute time a lot more predictable in the morning.
Since lockdowns ended, we could see a steady increase in car traffic and felt less and less safe on the roads. Our kids would love to cycle themselves to school more often. But having them this close to heavy traffic is a stress factor for me, in particular along the horrendous Shinfield Road.
We learned about Kidical Mass from friends who organised the first Reading Ride. Thanks to our great marshals, I can relax and enjoy a bike ride together.
I have since joined the organiser team as the regular baker, making sure the kids (and adults) have a little treat at the end.
We have a Tern GSD, an electric long tail cargo bike which can carry both of our kids (aged 6 and 3). This is mostly my bike.
My husband has his single bike (with one child seat) and a tandem. The tandem is set up for a child stoker and has a child seat on the back, so he can carry both kids on that.
The 6 year old has a bike with pedals and gears now, and the 3 year old still rides a balance bike.
We don’t run a car, though we do have co wheels car club membership for longer distance weekend trips where train logistics don’t work. So we use our bikes for pretty much everything on a day to day basis – school runs, music classes, trips out to Henley/Beale Park/Bracknell etc.
For logistics the children are mostly on our bikes as there usually isn’t provision for them to ride their own bikes safely on the roads, but they both enjoy stoking the tandem when they get the chance, and riding along the river to the local park.
We got involved in Kidical Mass because we intend to carry on doing our family logistics by bike, and by the time the kids are mature enough to go places on their own we don’t want them to be limited by the quality of the cycling infrastructure. It’s been easy to stay involved because our kids really love the rides and look forward to them each month!
Ride write ups, back marking and (very) occasional marshal
I have a trailer for wet and cold days, or longer trips and a bike seat on the back of my other bike.
My partner doesn’t really cycle unless with me, so all of our toddler’s set ups are on my bike because he doesn’t feel comfortable enough unless at Kidical Mass rides.
I don’t drive so cycling is my main mode of transport. I don’t cycle for the sake of cycling only very often, more as a way to get to A,B,C and D. But during maternity leave, those commutes would be about 100 miles a week to all our baby classes and seeing friends.
I started organising Kidical Masses because my cycling changed: I could no longer weave between traffic in the way I could, B and our trailer were part of traffic. Some junctions we couldn’t fit down the cycle lane to get the stop box.
We’d spent 2 months in hospital when he was born, and I was determined we wouldn’t spend another day there because lack of decent infrastructure put us in unnecessary danger from people driving metal boxes recklessly.
My son deserves a planet that is habitable, he deserves clean air and a healthy and fit Mum. Cycling achieves all of that but feeling unsafe stops so many people from using it as their main form of transport. Kidical Mass helps raise awareness of the need for safe infrastructure which will benefit everyone.
I’m one of the organisers and can often be found marshalling a ride while my partner takes our son, and feels safe doing so because I’m there protecting them from people in cars.
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! 🚲
As organisers of Kidical Mass Reading, we cycle a lot — for our commutes, groceries, school runs, and of course preparing rides! At first, you just feel the pain of having cars all around you. And then you start imagining how better things could be… if only…
That’s why we thought it may be time to suggest bike lanes, or various infrastructure changes here and there. We hope that it can start the conversation of making our Berkshire towns easier to cycle for everyone.
The first one we wanted to propose is on Forbury Road, between the Forbury “Banksy” roundabout and the station roundabout, along the Forbury Gardens. This is a 2×2 lane, very wide road. There’s a lot of pedestrians and bikes all the time, because it’s very close to the town centre. A lot of cyclists do not feel comfortable enough on the road here, and use the pavement, which causes difficulties with the pedestrians. There’s also a nursery located near the church, causing car and pram traffic. In short: a lot of potential collisions, and I’ve witnessed some myself, on my daily commute to the station.
It would be very easy to just reallocate a few feet from each of the 2 lanes on each side, and with a bit of paint, you get a nice enough bike lane in each direction.
Even better: grab a whole car lane! Suddenly you have a very decent width for a proper bike track, which can be protected with bollards or planters. And which can be enjoyed by bike riders of all age and capability!
But wait, it’s not just for cyclists! As a pedestrian, having only one lane for cars would also make crossing the roundabouts much easier. Nearly every morning, I see a man trying to cross the “Banksy” roundabout with a young child. There’s no crossing facility at all there, so they have to wait for a gap in the traffic, and then run as fast as they can across the 2 lanes…
Finally, there’s a lot of flats that got built recently across the Forbury Retail Park, called Huntley Wharf. How do people living there reach the town centre? Currently, despite the short distance, driving probably looks more appealing than walking or cycling. We need to start prioritising the types of transport that does not hurt people and keep our air breathable. This bike lane would be a very good step.
What do you think?
For February’s ride, we ventured North of the river in Reading. Or rather, from my perspective, I did not venture South of the river (Caversham is our home turf). The weather looked fairly ominous, so we were delighted that 38 riders turned up at Hills Meadow for the ride.
We cycle as our primary form of transport, but actually our kids don’t get to ride their own bikes much except through the local park. This, of course, is one of the reasons that they LOVE the Kidical Mass rides – they get to ride safely on the roads with their friends at a pace that’s comfortable for them. The smiles on their faces are the main reason we keep coming back month after month to do the rides.
The other reason that we organise the rides is to campaign for and raise awareness of the need for better cycling infrastructure. The lack of infrastructure was really driven home to us as we were trying to plan a route through Caversham that – with the marshals help – could be made safe for the children.
Star Road and Briants Avenue are both a nightmare for cyclists. There are cars parked such that there is only one usable lane, but it is still two lane traffic. Even if you wait for a gap in oncoming traffic to go past parked cars, in the time it takes to cycle through the narrower bit a car can come round the corner and decide they are going to drive towards you, pushing you into the door zone of the parked cars. We realised that there is no bicycle route which is safe for children to use to access the Amersham Road estate, a point I have now raised with one of the relevant councillors.
In the end, we took the ride along Hills Meadow, through a few quiet roads and then briefly across Gosbrook Road (our wonderful marshals ensured the children could turn safely on and off it) before swinging up to South View Avenue, through Westfield Park and back onto Gosbrook Road (again very briefly) before passing through the back roads back to the river. We received many waves and smiles from passers by – everyone seemed to enjoy the sight of children out on the road. We look forward to the day when it can safely happen more frequently!
On that note, the council is considering opening up the tunnel under the station to cyclists, which will remove a major pinch point when planning routes that are safe for children (there are only so many places you can cross the railway, and most of them are decidedly cycling unfriendly). If you’re reading this before 23rd February when the consultation closes, go and show some love for the proposal!
After the ride there was again cake (Steffi baked madeleines!) and the kids played together on the meadow and in the park. I saw quite a few adults sharing local cycling tips and test riding each other’s bikes – we have quite a wide range of experience and bicycles on the rides, so its a really useful place to discuss options if you’re considering switching some of your regular journeys to bicycles.
Outside of the rides, Kidical Mass has been invited to participate in CAST and Kat has attended several meetings. We aim to give the next generation a voice and raise the need for cycling infrastructure that suits ALL road users. We are grateful to everyone who has ever attended one of our rides, because you help amplify that message. Do join us in March in Wokingham, or in April in Reading.
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!
