A Kidical-Christ-Mass Ride
Our kids had been looking forward to the Kidical Mass Christmas ride for months. We were worried when we woke up on the day to find the weather forecast had changed overnight to heavy rain and freezing temperatures.
We discussed how best to weather-proof an outdoor bike ride for an unknown number of children (conclusion: spare gloves, moving to an end point with shelter and mobile hot chocolate).
Despite the weather, just under 70 riders showed up. Santa rode at the front on a tandem with ride leader Simon, and the marshals were identifiable not only by their hi-vis vests but also by their reindeer antlers.
The children were delighted to see Santa, and he exchanged many hi-fives before we set off. The promised rain thankfully mostly held off.
We made quite a spectacle riding through town, with many people stopping to watch, take photos and smile and wave. My younger son did the first part of the ride on his own bike then came up onto mine when he got tired.
I tasked him with calling out “Merry Christmas” to the people in town, which he did in between yelling, “Look! I’m an Elf!” (He had a hat duct-taped to his helmet). He got a very high hit rate on friendly replies.
At Forbury gardens Santa’s grown-up elf set up shop to do free bike maintenance for anyone whose bike needed a tune up.
Santa congratulated all the children on how well they had ridden and passed out presents. We plied them with hot chocolate and cake and then quite a lot of them decided that what they really wanted to be doing after a long, damp, cold bike ride was to…ride their bikes around Forbury Gardens. I love the energy that children bring.
Hilary Smart
