It’s a winning combination: biking to school as a family, locking up the child bike or tagalong, and then continuing to work. You might have noticed that empty child seats or tag-alongs have become familiar sights on bikes heading downtown in the morning. Some longtails or midtails you might see on these bikes even allow for multiple children to ride on the back.
Families utilizing these bikes show that everyone in the family benefits from biking to school together: the student arrives at school awake, alert and ready for the day, and the bicycling parent saves the frustrations of dealing with public transit crowding or navigating rush hour traffic and congestion.
In celebration of family biking, parents and children alike will roll out in force for Bike and Roll to School Week from April 21-25. The event has grown every year since the first Bike to School Day in 2009. In 2013, we expanded the event to cover an entire week because we wanted to enable each school to choose the best day of the week for their event. Last year, 53 schools and 4,000 children, parents and school staff took part. This year, we hope to see that number grow. Has your school signed up this year? Find out!
Because many families will try biking to school together for their first time during Bike and Roll to School Week, your SF Bicycle Coalition and SF Safe Routes To School will offer family biking classes and workshops that provide the opportunity for a little advanced practice. The training events will culminate in the Bike and Roll Kickoff Event at Marina Middle School on April 19.
If that’s not neat enough already, we also have a special incentive for parents to get involved in Bike and Roll to School Week. Any parent can sign up for our raffle to win an electric-assist EdgeRunner family bike. Thanks to Xtracycle, Bionx and The New Wheel Electric Bikes for the raffle prize donation!
You can also sign up as a volunteer or rider for your school’s Bike and Roll To School Day. We’d love you to join us! Email nancy@sfbike.org with any questions or comments.