The printed version of the new Spokes factsheet How to be a Cycling Family is now available – and the Bike Station is offering free training and support for local parents interested in giving family cycling a go!
THE PRINTED FACTSHEET
How to be a Cycling Family [pdf 908k] provides parents, particularly of young children, with ideas on how to use bikes for whole-family every-day transport. It should be particularly useful for multi-purpose journeys like dropping a child off at nursery whilst on the way to your own workplace – a dilemma which leads many parents to take to the car.
The factsheet content is distilled from our earlier more comprehensive online-only family cycle-commuting fact-sheet, which has more detail of the various options as well as some real-life case-studies to provide added inspiration. Both factsheets, together with supplier lists and some updates, are on our Commuting with Kids downloads page.
If you or your group could use a copy of the printed factsheet, please contact familycycling@spokes.org.uk.
[Free but SAE appreciated to Spokes, St Martins Church, 232 Dalry Road, Edinburgh EH11 2JG].
We’d welcome feedback on the factsheet – or additional suggestions / information for everyday cycle-commuting – email familycycling@spokes.org.uk. Information likely to be useful to others may be added to our family cycling downloads page.
Spokes produced the factsheet with funding from Cycling Scotland‘s Cycle Friendly Communities Fund which is supporting the joint Spokes and Bike Station Weans on Wheels (WoW) project this year. WoW aims to encourage more every-day family cycle-commuting by providing information and support to parents, particularly those with children too young to go on their own bike. The aim is to build awareness, skills and confidence through our online materials and through hands-on advice and training. We aim to show that there are realistic (and fun, healthy and educational) alternatives to the dreary old car-based daily travel routine for play-group / nursery / school etc.
WANT TO GIVE IT A GO?? NEED PRACTICAL SUPPORT AND TRAINING??
The Bike Station is offering FREE training and support for parents interested in giving family cycling a go, as follows:
- equipment demonstrations during spring / summer 2011 at Edinburgh nurseries, playgroups, schools etc – child seats, tag-alongs, trailers etc
- drop-in sessions at the Bike Station to see / try equipment: every Friday 1-4pm, starting 14 April (coinciding with the weekly Children’s Bike Sales)
- whole-family have-a-go sessions with the bikes and equipment, and a professional cycle-trainer
Contact Ruairidh at the Bike Station for more information on any of the above, or to book a nursery/school demonstration or training session. Email info@thebikestation.org.uk or phone 0131 668 1996.
Finally, the Bike Station might be able to loan you some family-cycling equipment [Burley child trailers, child seats and tag-alongs, as well as adult bikes] if you work for a company registered with the Bike Station’s Better Way to Work project.