An invite for a Tweed Ride. It's lovely, but your ride can be as fancy or as casual as you like. Photo: sftweed.com.
May is National Bike Month and the blogosphere has gone wild with bike-related posts.
Not only that, but since bike riding has been trending upward, due to a combination of more intentional bike-commutes, higher gas prices, and the craze to stay fit through preventative practices, we’re seeing bike riding as among the totally hot things to do for all ages.
I don’t usually feel like I can make predictions, but in the case of bike riding, I think the trend is not just a trend, but here to stay. And with gas prices going up and down and up and down, biking is a great way to gird against the impact of peak oil.
The best part of all? Everybody loves biking.
You can do it with babies, kids, and grandma. You can do it alone or with company. You can take it as seriously as you want, all pimped out in bike gear, or go as totally casual as you like, biking in your regular street clothes, including skirts and dresses.
She’s got a ticket to ride
Since we’re still at the beginning of the month, my tip for today is to plan a bike get-together for later this month. Wherever you live just set a date, make up a guest list — whether families with kids, a bunch of singles, your beau or hubby, or a friend — and make an e-vite and a Facebook event using fun and funky bike imagery and plan your pedal power.
You can do a bike-a-thon to raise money for your church or a cause, setting up a course and taking pledges. If you live in a subdivision just host a bike swarm starting at the elementary school or another central location and ending on a cul-de-sac for a block party.
Or plan a destination ride, a few miles, packs in tow, ending in a picnic. Or you can go all swank and plan a tweed ride (though perhaps its spring version for warmer weather, a seersucker ride.)
And if you’re not up for the whole party-planner thing just plan for your own family, or set it up with one friend, and go all low key. You could even hit the road this Thursday for National Bike to Work Day.
Back in the saddle
National Bike Month offers you the impetus to get a kick start for your kick stand, seating you back on two wheels if you’ve been out of commission. Just remember to check the bikes about a week in advance (and remind any invitees to do so too) so that you’re not flummoxed on ride day.
From there, try to keep it up, choosing to ride to nearby destinations — school, the library or market — whenever you can.
Happy riding.
–Lindsay Curren, Lindsay’s List
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