Chicago Families Ride On

Way back in January Nick Wilson of Rapid Transit kindly sat down with me for our first interview of this new page called Chicago Families Ride On. It's the home of our interviews with Chicago families who ride with their kids of all ages on all forms of moving bicycle. Nick is a long time rider who has ridden with his now nine year old son from the earliest months of his son's life.

After months of trying to translate our talk to the page I made the decision that these will be audio pieces. It was hard to catch the nuances of Nick's conversation and he says such interesting things about where and why he rides that I decided to post the whole conversation with a quick written introduction. I'm sorry about the quality of the video part we added later. 

He has a lot of knowledge not only of traveling with a young rider but also about riding in Chicago specifically. I owe many thanks to him for talking to me about his family rides and fielding the many silly questions my family and I have been asking him over the years. Thank you Nick!

a better version of the blurry picture in the "video" above

Much has changed since we talked with Nick. Chicago's new Mayor aggressively supports growing the city's cycling infrastructure. How it grows to accomodate a variety of riders-- including children on their own bikes-- remains to be seen. Our city's future lies in how we find a way to make cycling real not only for the brave and car free but also for the wobbly and for those simply hoping to find a way to stay on two wheels. Young single adult cyclists grow naturally into becoming parents. Maybe hearing stories from other parents can help others make a success of family cycling. It's exciting how may of us family riders are out here riding every day. Hopefully this new page will be a fun place to hear each other's stories of our kids, our rides and of Chicago, the city we share.