Good morning!
It is Monday and grey outside. The dog is being noisy. Mike is busy. And I have to take off in the middle of the day again.
But first!
I want to talk to you about Ride to Thrive.
(Apparently, I left, did the thing, then came back and continued writing.)
Ride to Thrive is a program run by London Cycle Link (LCL). LCL's vision is to help London achieve a safe, convenient cycling infrastructure.
Their mission is to help Londoners ride more by, as their website says, "building confidence, advocating for safe streets, and developing a thriving cycling culture." That means they teach you how to ride, how to maintain your bike, and how to stay safe. With values like Equity, Community, Fun, Sustainability, and Empowerment, it's no surprise LCL is well-liked.
London Cycle Link has 4 major goals:
Infrastructure: a connected grid of safe, separated bike lanes reaching all neighbourhoods
Maintenance: all-season maintenance of bike lanes, paths and roadsides
Parking: increased safe, secure bike parking in all commercial areas
Bike Share: a city-wide bike share program
In 2022, they took the municipal city council candidates on ride-a-longs to show them the state of the infrastructure and help them better understand what we as cyclists need. Developing positive relationships with the City Council and informing them of cyclist needs in the city was fairly successful, too.
LCL is the reason I am speaking at the City Council meeting on Wednesday. They asked me if I'd like to join their advocacy. I have a big mouth and a tendency to ramble (once I get started). That goes double if it's a topic I'm passionate about. Safe cycling and education is something I am passionate about.
Ride to Thrive is a program aimed at teaching kids in grades 5 and 6 skills for riding safely on roads where there are no bike paths. (Two-lane roads, like the ones in your neighbourhood.) The program teaches rules and laws, as well as signals/hand gestures (nooo...not that one), and some maintenance tips, like changing a flat. We'll give them the confidence to ride to school, to their friends' houses, wherever they need to go.
(I grabbed the video off the Ride to Thrive page)
The whole point of this blog is to point out that, this year, we are doing a trial for being instructors in Ride to Thrive. There is training involved as well as the week-long 'camps'.
Training is in April 15-16 and April 22-23. We will be closed for those two weekends. Which means, intake will occur the Fridays before. In a much more informal kind of way.
The following dates are the days we will be teaching the younglings. On those days, we will be open after the day at the school is done. (We're told that it's 9 to 1:30 or so. We'd be open by 2:30, theoretically.)
Orchard Park Public School: May 8th-12th
Sir John A MacDonald: May 15th-19th
Wilfrid Jury: June 12th-16th
Lord Nelson: 19th-23rd
We are looking forward to this, very much. It will be a lot of fun.
That's it for me. We're closing at 4:30 today and I have things to do. See more about Ride to Thrive and London Cycle Link on CBC.ca.
Have a wonderful day!
A very apropos quote found on the LCL website:
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world: indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has”
— Margaret Mead