Kidical Mass at the Climate Festival
Reading’s Climate Festival week kicked off with Waterfest on 10 June in Forbury Gardens.
Climate action is an issue close to the hearts of all of the Kidical Mass organisers, so we were delighted to run one of our family friendly rides that tied in with and finished at the event.
Despite the climate focus, the weather seemed determined to act against us, with thunderstorms forecast for the time of the ride.
A few of our organisers work in weather forecasting (funny the correlation between that and climate activism), so we told them to go away and get a better result.
Luckily they were successful, and the weather on the day was perfect for a group ride.
We were joined by Cllr Dave McElroy of the Green Party, accompanied by a very small person who was new to riding.
Dave was planning to run (we warned him that we’ll hold the pace for pre-schoolers on bikes but not for adults on foot).
He and his little one did very well, and when they ran out of steam, we unusually had enough capacity to allow both to hitch rides on cargo bikes to our destination.
Increasing bike usage should be a key part of the strategy to combat climate change. And a key part of increasing bike usage has to be building better infrastructure.
Infrastructure that is safe for families to ride on without needing a dedicated route finder and safety marshals.
If you agree with these aims, then please consider joining us – come as you are or bring your favourite small riders with you.
If you are happy to help marshal (no previous experience required) then we’d love to add you to our wonderful team.
Our next ride in Wokingham will be on Saturday 7 October in Elms Fields Playground starting from 2pm.
(We will also run a ride at 12pm on Sunday 10 September from the Cycle Festival in Reading if you get to see this in time!)
Find out more from our website at kidicalmassreading.co.uk.
Hilary Smart
