Every school day, I run through the usual checklist: lunchbox, water bottle, backpack, coat, and lastly, bike helmet. For the past year and a half, we have mostly commuted to our son’s preschool on our family cargo e-bike, where our two young sons (four and two) are strapped into a box on the front of the bike.
The sight of us elicits varied reactions from people who we pass, which range from the encouraging, “That’s awesome!” to the curious, “Did you build that yourself?” (No we did not), to the anxious, “Be careful!”. As we bike down the Chessie Circle Trail, my boys often point out squirrels or birds they see along the side, and we share a wave with the other bikers – some of whom we get used to passing at the same time every day.
“You hear funny things from your kid on a bike,” said Alyssa High, who has a four-year-old daughter who she carries on the back of her e-bike. “She says funny things, observations about the world.”
This ability to interact with our surroundings is one of the benefits of biking as a means of transportation. High also noted that she has never had to fight with her daughter to get her into the bike seat, while she has done so plenty to convince her to get into a car seat.
I can’t quite say the same about my two boys, and I have to admit to sometimes sticking my kicking-and-screaming two-year-old in his car seat shoeless if I am unable to wrangle his shoes, coat and helmet on to bike to his older brother’s school pickup. But on the whole, the prospect of riding in “Major Tom,” as we have named our bike, is exciting for the boys.
Another benefit of biking as transportation is the way it builds exercise into my day – something that, after having kids, is challenging to carve out elsewhere. If I don’t get in a run, at least I have school pickup to get my body moving and breathing fresh air.
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Biking also allows us to bypass some of the hassle of finding parking. If we bike to a MudHens game, for example, we can easily lock up our bike at the covered bike rack across the street at the Glass City Center and walk straight over.
Of course, family biking comes with its challenges as well. The winter can be difficult with colder temperatures and ice on the ground, but it is possible to navigate that with investment in the proper gear – something that High said it took them a couple of winters to figure out.
Finding safe bike routes can also require more advanced planning than a car ride, as it often involves mapping out neighborhood roads that bypass larger, busier ones. Even if roads have painted bike lanes, the lack of a physical barrier between children and fast-moving cars can feel too risky for families with children.
“Multiuse paths and protected bike lanes would benefit families who have a lower risk profile,” said High.
Navigating cars driven by people who are not familiar with biking, and who sometimes don’t have the patience for the slower method of transportation, can also be difficult.
“If we all just looked out for each other a little bit more, slowed down a bit and were in less of a rush, it would be a much more pleasurable experience,” said High.
For my family, navigating these challenges feels worth it because of the larger benefits, both at a personal and societal level. Having a lower carbon footprint is important to us, as well as being invested in our local community, rather than driving farther away.
High recalled how she and her family never set out with the goal to be a family that bikes, but rather saw it progress gradually. She and her husband started biking places for fun during the COVID pandemic, and then slowly started to use it more as a means of transportation. They began asking themselves “Could we bike a little bit further instead of driving?” and gradually expanded their reach.
She wanted to encourage other families interested in trying it out that they can do something similar.
“You don’t have to jump straight to having it be your school commute or the only way you get around, but start making outings of it on the weekend,” she said. “It would be cool to see more kids and families trying to get around that way.”
Families who are interested in trying out biking with kids in tow can get connected with the family biking community by contacting toledofamilybiking@gmail.com. And for planning biking routes, ToledoBikeMap.wordpress.com provides color-coded visuals of different types of bike infrastructure in Toledo.
Alyssa High also recently started a new substack about family biking titled “Wheelin’ In The Years“, which can be found at substack.com/@
