Riding with my son (Comments: 1)

Most days, I bike with my son Bernie to school and then continue on to work. He’s four (“You mean four-and-three-quarters, Dad,” I can hear him saying as I type this) and this is his first real experience riding any great distance on his bike, particularly with traffic. The route we take minimizes our contact with traffic, and we use the crosswalks for the two busiest parts — from Field Street to Monroe (near 490 and the YMCA) and then across Monroe to Dartmouth (at the YMCA).

Bernie does pretty well. He’s riding a typical kids pseudo-mountain bike, purchased for $7 at a garage sale. Some friends recently gave us a bigger bike for him, but he’s not quite ready for it yet. With no gears and small wheels/legs, he can’t go all that fast, but he manages the couple small hills with no whining. Today we were at the bottom of one hill and he said, “Dad, I don’t think I can make it up this hill.” I started talking about how weak my legs felt when I first started riding a lot this summer, but how within a few weeks I was easily climbing hills that used to make me tired. By the time we finished this exchange, we were at top of the hill. He was delighted when I pointed that out to him.

It’s one of the big pleasures of fatherhood to ride with your kids. I love having Bernie out there with me. It’s fun to show up at his school. Out of nearly 500 kids, we’re the only family that arrives by bike, as far as I can tell. The other day, I took him in the trailer because it was raining. Dropping him off via trailer was like taking him on horseback. People stood and stared, and I could hear them talking about the trailer and the bike with wonder.

Mind you, we live in a city. Rochester isn’t remarkably bike friendly, but it’s a weird morning if I don’t see at least a few other cyclists on my very short commute. And there are kids on bikes everywhere. So why don’t more people bike to school? I know that some schools in Rochester (such as School No. 12 on South Ave) don’t allow bicycles. I’ve been told it’s due to concerns about theft. Bernie’s school doesn’t seem to have a similar restriction, although there are no bike racks. The principal is out there most mornings as I’m locking Bernie’s bike to a nearby railing, and she seems fine with it.

I told our neighbors, whose kids go to the same school, that I’d be happy to form a “bike bus” with them, but they haven’t taken me up on it yet. Maybe I’ll put some leaflets up around the neighborhood to see if there are any takers.

Whether anyone joins us or not, I’m thoroughly enjoying the extra one-on-one time spent with Bernie. Yay bikes!

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