By: Janne
Janne is a cyclist and bike advocate, living in Minneapolis. Janne does not have children, but she “borrows some on a regular basis.” I loved this story about Janne and her seven-year old friend, M. This was found through the Minneapolis Bike Coalition blog where it was part of a longer story.
The street is packed. There are buses. Cars. Trucks. So, the sidewalk? But we’ve been working on, “Sidewalks belong to pedestrians,” for 7 years! Sigh.
Sidewalk it is. As we wait for the “walk” signal, I explain our path and that I’ll follow. We arrive and the sidewalk is packed. Trees in the middle of sidewalks. Pedestrians (they belong.) Street lights. Benches. Newspaper boxes squeezing the space. No bike parking.
But she knows what she’s doing. She can handle her bike, and slowly maneuvers around the newspaper boxes and the cyclist locking his bike to the railing, the bikes locked to the tree growing in the middle of the sidewalk, and then yields to the pedestrian like she’s been doing this for years. (Maybe that “belongs to pedestrians” thing sank in?)*
It was worth it. She devoured two orders of dumplings before we headed back home on an easier route, at least once we’d navigated the sidewalk, and made it home just in time to get in bed half an hour late. (That’s what overnights with not-moms are for, right?)
Where do you or don’t you ride with kids? Does anyone have suggestions of an alternative route for us? Other than demanding we skip her restaurant choice and go to the Midtown Global Market, that is?