Why D.C. Wants to Teach Every Kid How to Ride a Bike

[wordnerd]

DC is teaching all 2nd graders to ride bikes. Pretty cool!

To celebrate the end of the course, each class will do a half-day group ride from the school to a local park and back. Kenyon has mapped a five-to-seven-mile route around every elementary school, with a shorter loop for fledgling riders. “We can take them to a safe place to bike, like Anacostia Park or Fort Dupont Park or Rock Creek Park. They can see beautiful areas of their city and enjoy them by riding.”

http://www.citylab.com/commute/2015/09/why-dc-will-teach-every-kid-how-to-ride-a-bike/401621/?utm_source=atlfb

[Dee18]

What a great idea.  Thanks for posting that?

[Thegoblinchief]

I've only seen parts of DC but even where they had decent infrastructure I'd feel kinda nervous with my kids. Traffic there is so insane.

[MissStache]

This is great!  I really love this.  DC is already such a bikable city, but I'm glad to see there is outreach to other groups that will improve things. 

I do have concerns about the drivers of DC.  A perfect storm of transplants, tourists, and people who are always in a hurry make for some dangerous situations, but there are definitely huge swaths of the city that safe and accessible.  We biked about 5 miles last night to Nationals Park (ugh, that awful game!) last night and it was wonderful.  Bike lanes almost all the way!

[cacaoheart]

I'm glad to see bike riding being promoted early on. I have a couple adult friends that somehow never learned. One also doesn't drive, so they're stuck using a not so great bus system or walking.

[fitfrugalfab]

I've only seen parts of DC but even where they had decent infrastructure I'd feel kinda nervous with my kids. Traffic there is so insane.

+1. My DH and I are going to start biking everywhere and I'm a bit nervous to start, especially since there is constant construction on the routes we'll be taking.

[FunkyStickman]

I've only seen parts of DC but even where they had decent infrastructure I'd feel kinda nervous with my kids. Traffic there is so insane.

+1. My DH and I are going to start biking everywhere and I'm a bit nervous to start, especially since there is constant construction on the routes we'll be taking.

There's tons of resources out there for bike commuters, many of which I'd recommend:
Google+ Bike Commuter Cabal (the club pres works in D.C.)
www.bikecommutercabal.com
bikeleague.org

and of course, here on the MMM forums...

[Welshrabbit]

This is great!  I really love this.  DC is already such a bikable city, but I'm glad to see there is outreach to other groups that will improve things. 

I do have concerns about the drivers of DC.  A perfect storm of transplants, tourists, and people who are always in a hurry make for some dangerous situations, but there are definitely huge swaths of the city that safe and accessible.  We biked about 5 miles last night to Nationals Park (ugh, that awful game!) last night and it was wonderful.  Bike lanes almost all the way!

I'm out in the NOVA 'burbs and they are just as crazy out here...it's weird, but I feel much safer walking to work than I do biking to work.