Kids and Bikes

When I think of my childhood, growing up in a small town in Massachusetts, I find myself dwelling on the summer days spent biking around town with my friends. We would go to the center of town, then past the cemetery to the lake, then to 7/11 to loiter before going home in the evening. We would waste away the hot summer days in the sun soaking up as much freedom as we could. Our bikes were our key to the world, the one thing taking us from our homes and into nature. It was always something we fell back on; even after I had gone to a different high school than my friends, we still spent much of our summers biking together on trails in the woods or to the beach a town over. Biking was more than an activity, it was what connected us through the passage of time and the twists of life. 

College was a bit of a change for me, moving from a pretty small area to a larger city. There were so many more cars on the road and people on the sidewalk. This is where I first saw proper bike lanes; they existed in Boston but were not necessarily the safest to use and it was often safer to just take the train. When I joined the Bike Fed, I got the opportunity to use a loaner bike from them for my time there. I had not been on a bike in some time, but I was excited. The big city felt much smaller, everything much closer to me. What was originally so daunting turned into something manageable and interesting. I felt like a kid again, with the wind cutting through my hair and the rhythm of the pedals. I felt like I was at home. 

The importance of accessibility to biking is more than making environments bike-friendly. Every kid deserves the opportunity to experience what I was lucky enough to have, the chance to explore the world around them and follow their sense of wonder. Bikes let them create their own community and expand their horizons. They deserve to be able to exercise independence in a safe space and foster those relationships, make those memories, and above all, enjoy their time outside. The bike, for kids, is the magical tool that turns the vast, untouchable world into something that is their own. It allows them their first foray into real life and society. Biking should be more than accessible; it should be encouraged and supported, so that kids who come after us can experience the same joy and freedom. 

Working with the Bike Fed has been an incredible opportunity. They seek to protect these experiences and provide children with opportunities to flex their independence and learn about bikes and what they can do for them, among other things. The world is changing, so we should ask ourselves, what more can we do to preserve the freedom of biking?