Women on Bikes

[dasgeh]

@Tim Kelley 12045 wrote:

I hadn’t even thought about bowing of the knees–I’d have to make sure the geometry of the bike/seat give me enough clearance as I’m pretty tall. (Tall enough that Dirt and I make each other feel normal sized!)

Yeah, you have to make sure the geometry works, which might mean buying a new bike. We both have road bikes, so we were getting a new bike to ride with the kid regardless. And we got the Biria new for $400 (so $500 total for bike + seat + wind screen) — so much cheaper than a car.

You can get a base for your wife, so you could leave the seat with the kid, and either you or your wife could pick up the kid, and neither of you ends up riding with a ghost kid.

The Cargo-T is very cool, FFX_Hinterlands. Though getting from Rosslyn to Cherrydale may be a bit challenging with a kid on the front AND 2 on the back.

[eminva]

One of the articles Zanna referred to mentioned the lack of mothers at the event, so I’ll focus on that, as a bicycle commuting mama.

This is a really complicated issue, but not impossible. I got almost no exercise in the first three years of my son’s life. I think the mothers and fathers on this board can appreciate the massive time management challenge that a little one presents. The way to market this is to make it a health issue as well as something that a mother can do for herself. Mothers need to take care of themselves and exercise is almost a form a pampering. For me, I was able to work physical activity into my schedule by commuting by bike. I was immediately amazed at the fringe benefit of having three whole hours per week to myself! My approach however, might not work for another mom, especially one who might not have a lot of confidence in her athleticism or sense of adventure, to say nothing of flexibility of schedule. The important thing is to encourage women to find some time for themselves and then present the bike as a way to combine exercise, refreshment, escape, camaraderie, mental health break and possibly even transportation into that wee bit of time. For one woman it might take the form of a bicycle commute, another might get a bike with a child seat that can transport the child for running errands and another might leave the kid with a babysitter for an hour every week and go on a women’s group ride sponsored by a LBS. There won’t be a one size fits all answer.

Many of the suggestions already mentioned on this thread and in the articles would help toward this end, including: making local bike shops more friendly for entry level cyclists (women in particular) and marketing portraits of “real cyclists.” I would add: a marketing campaign aimed at mothers with the theme “Escape on a Bike” and better publicity for any women’s cycling groups or entry-level group rides through cycling organizations and local bike shops.

As a side note, I was way ahead of all your kids getting hauled around by bike:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]524[/ATTACH]

-Liz

[OneEighth]

Eminva,
That photo is absolutely awesome!
Tom

[dasgeh]

eminva,

Great post, amazing picture. I hope our daughter posts a similar picture a few years down the road…

I’d just add that by bike commuting, my commute takes as long as it would by car (Arlington – DC), plus I get the workout in. (and ALL of the other benefits we all know so well I’m not stuck in my car in traffic or on Metro, the time doesn’t vary with traffic/accidents, don’t have to pay for parking and car maintenance, get to work happy, etc, etc, etc). I don’t know if any education campaign can illustrate that better than current bike commuters just talking to others about bike commuting — just today at work I was talking to a new dad who lives in Arlington about the difficulty of fitting in workouts, and I pointed out that if he commuted on his bike, he’d be working out for the amount of time he now spends on Metro. He agreed to try it (once it gets warmer).

[KLizotte]

eminva,

Very good points raised. An enterprising LBS would do well to set up a table and have some entry-level bikes with kiddie seats/trailers set up in front of a school so parents can stop by and ask questions and try out the bikes. Spring time in the afternoon seems ideal. Maps of the area trails could also be given out along with info from WABA on membership, safe riding classes, etc. Having a parent or two who actually rides to answer questions would be useful too. Combining this effort with a local running shop to show off their running strollers would also be a good combo.

To get permission for all of this, Bike Arlington might have to grease the wheels ahead of time.

[americancyclo]

@dasgeh 12057 wrote:

…was talking to a new dad … about the difficulty of fitting in workouts, and I pointed out that if he commuted on his bike, he’d be working out for the amount of time he now spends on Metro.

This has really saved me in the past six months. The trick now is to find a way to return some of that time to my wife as well. I’m not sure if it’s just our situation, but I work farther away from home, and have been bike commuting since before baby, so not much has changed, except for the lack of free time outside work, but since the commute is built in to work time, I still get pretty much the same amount of exercise. The Lady is working reduced hours to spend more time with the little one, which is wonderful, but it leaves little if any time on the weekdays for her. Weekends I ride less so she can exercise more, but I wonder if we can find a better solution, or if it’s just a matter of waiting for the little one to get a bit older. I’d love to hear how other parents found that balance.

[mstone]

@americancyclo 12063 wrote:

I’d love to hear how other parents found that balance.

Never did. Our two oldest are big enough to start riding solid distances (8-12 miles) and we just got an iGo for the youngest, and have high hopes that we can all ride together far enough that it’s a noticeable trip. We’ve had a back-of-bike seat for a long time, but never felt comfortable taking it fast/far. Also, by the time the second one was old enough for it, the oldest wanted to ride her own bike. And while going places with a young one on training wheels is fun, it’s not much in the way of exercise. (It’s absolutely amazing how far high-pressure tires can coast behind a small bike that’s being pedaled furiously.) So, yeah, the only answer I have is time.

[dasgeh]

@KLizotte 12059 wrote:

An enterprising LBS would do well to set up a table and have some entry-level bikes with kiddie seats/trailers set up in front of a school so parents can stop by and ask questions and try out the bikes. Spring time in the afternoon seems ideal. Maps of the area trails could also be given out along with info from WABA on membership, safe riding classes, etc. Having a parent or two who actually rides to answer questions would be useful too. Combining this effort with a local running shop to show off their running strollers would also be a good combo.

I can see it now at next year’s Clarendon Day, Clarendon Cup or Bike to Work Day… a booth next to a side street with cargo bikes, dutch bikes with front and back kids’ seats, trail-a-bikes, strider bikes (I think BicycleSPACE has some good options, and we may be able to get someone to bring in a baakfiets or similar), someone could sell kids’ helmets, maybe even jogging strollers (Pacers is the likely ask for those) — let people test drive things on the closed side street. Maybe even organize a kidical mass to leave from there, so you can see the different options…

@americancyclo 12063 wrote:

The trick now is to find a way to return some of that time to my wife as well. […] Weekends I ride less so she can exercise more, but I wonder if we can find a better solution, or if it’s just a matter of waiting for the little one to get a bit older.

We’re in the opposite position: my husband’s at home with the kid, and I bike to work. I fit in runs at lunch when I can (which is not very often), so I get most of my work outs in during the week. He runs most errands (grocery store, to/from preschool, etc etc) on the bike with the front seat, which is good for general fitness, not so much a workout. He has a trainer (and netflix) for naptime/weeknight workouts. On the weekend, I take the kid so he can do his team and/or shop ride. Sometimes I’ll take the kid in the jogging stroller while I run. He gets way more exercise than me, but that’s personal choice, not forced by our schedules.

It’s not perfect, but it’s a pretty good balance. It’s a good point that there’s not much exercise on the bike with the kid (as opposed to the jogging stroller, which I think makes running even more of a workout).

[Mark Blacknell]

How about coordinating a “Family Bike Show & Tell” sort of thing? One of the reasons you don’t see lots of family bikes, cargo options, etc. at local shops is that inventory is expensive (and moves relatively slowly). Of course, that lack of hands-on inventory is one of the reasons that people don’t buy them – that’s frequently a lot of money to drop on something you’ve not seen. If it were sufficiently publicized, and enough folks were willing to stand around and talk about their own rigs, I think it could work out pretty well. I’d love to do it on something like Clarendon Day, reaching a more general audience.

~

Also, my first answer to concerns about looking good on/after a ride? http://www.copenhagencyclechic.com/

[dasgeh]

@Mark Blacknell 12071 wrote:

How about coordinating a “Family Bike Show & Tell” sort of thing? One of the reasons you don’t see lots of family bikes, cargo options, etc. at local shops is that inventory is expensive (and moves relatively slowly). Of course, that lack of hands-on inventory is one of the reasons that people don’t buy them – that’s frequently a lot of money to drop on something you’ve not seen. If it were sufficiently publicized, and enough folks were willing to stand around and talk about their own rigs, I think it could work out pretty well. I’d love to do it on something like Clarendon Day, reaching a more general audience.
http://www.copenhagencyclechic.com/

That’s what I was thinking of. We could even expand it to a family biking event, and have a bike school for kids. We’d have to shut down one of the side streets, but there are a couple good options just north or south of Clarendon/Wilson (Fillmore, Garfield, Highland…)

My only complaint is that Clarendon Day isn’t until September, and I’m totally impatient. Clarendon Cup is in June, which is much sooner.

[eminva]

When WABA held the local stakeholder meetings for the recent Bike Summit, I attended the Fairfax County meeting. I suggested a “Bike Rodeo” event but Greg Billing said that would be expensive. Bruce Wright pointed out that no municipality in Fairfax County holds a Fun Ride like Arlington did a few months ago. If local jurisdictions throughout the DC area held such events annually, combined with the sorts of equipment “expos” you are suggesting, it would be a way of getting the whole family involved via the kids.

I’m sure it is a lot of work to get a new event off the ground — there are boy scouts all over the region looking for Eagle Scout projects so that might be a source of volunteer labor . . .

Liz

[PotomacCyclist]

What about a 2nd Bike to Work Day in the fall? Many people only work in the area for a year or two. Those who start up in the late summer or fall will not hear about Bike to Work Day until their stint here is almost up. A fall event could draw in those people as well as the many college students in the area. (If you include the suburbs, DC is a major college town.)

I don’t remember how many bike rental shops had tables at BTWD stations this summer, but that could be a useful way to promote casual biking and commuter cycling.

Clarendon Day would be a good event too, as mentioned. Is there any bike promotion at the Arlington County Fair? That could be a good place to promote the health and convenience benefits of cycling. It’s no secret that fair food is unhealthy and from what I’ve seen from pictures, many of the visitors do not appear to be healthy and fit.

[gregbilling]

Bikes, Kids and Families is definitely the challenge. Teaching parents how to take care of family responsibilities on bikes is one the major game changers. Kidical Mass is the start of that movement. Family rides, family shopping tides, walking/biking school buses, birthday party bike rodeos, etc. are all part of the solution. I wish that WABA could host a bike safety rodeo were they are needed and wanted. Our education staff literally gets over 50 requests a year for rodeos. Currently, we don’t have the staff to support that demand or necessary funding to pay for it. A WABA run bike rodeo is expensive (lots of gear, lots of bikes, multiple paid League Cycling Instructors, insurance, location fees, van usage, etc).

That being said, we need help finding funding in your locality (private, public, etc). Ask your elected officials to fund safety education, ask your employer to sponsor a family ride, ask your neighborhood association/church/civic group to host a rodeo. We would love to do our jobs and educate more kids.

[dasgeh]

@eminva 12075 wrote:

I’m sure it is a lot of work to get a new event off the ground — there are boy scouts all over the region looking for Eagle Scout projects so that might be a source of volunteer labor . . .

And Girl Scouts looking for Gold Award projects. (This is a thread about women on bikes…)

[eminva]

@dasgeh 12079 wrote:

And Girl Scouts looking for Gold Award projects. (This is a thread about women on bikes…)

Of course! I should have known the Girl Scouts would have a similar requirement (I don’t have any daughters and my own scouting days are so far back, I can’t remember if I had to do a service project).

Liz

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