“Actually, now you’ve got me thinking”
My unexpected lesson in getting a non-cyclist to ride

By Kelly Morphy, Winter Garden resident and Community Engagement Manager for Love to Ride Florida

I set out this week to learn how best to encourage a non-rider or infrequent cyclist to get on a bike.

“Hey, Mom, do you have a minute to chat?” I asked by phone. “I want to know what I can do to get you to go for a bike ride this afternoon.”

Mom: Somehow cancel all the work. QuickBooks, yard work, housework.

Completely human, normal reasons to balk at bicycling, totally understandable.

“How about tomorrow morning?”

Mom: An aching hip, a flat tire, a busy intersection to cross.

Completely human, again, especially at 72 years old.

Gear shift: “Mom, I want to know about your childhood. Did you ride a bike?”

When she was about 10, my mom shared (and now with a little more enthusiasm), she lived in a very rural area. There weren’t sidewalks and her ‘neighborhood’ friends were more than a mile away. “We could walk,” she said, “but biking was faster.”

She was given an adult-sized bike, “And there was no practicing. We just started riding bikes to get to our friends’ houses. It was hilly – no flat stretch – just up or down. There wasn’t much traffic, so we biked in the road. My brothers had paper routes and delivered their papers by bike, too.”

(#TBT. I hadn’t heard the phrase “paper route” in years.)

My mom went on to say that she didn’t worry about her bike being stolen back then, but if she was to ride now, she feels she’d have more concerns. Nonetheless, she said bicycling is better for the environment and better for physical health than driving everywhere. She talked about how she might be able to ride to the store that’s a few blocks away if she gave it a shot.

“Actually, now you’ve got me thinking: do you want to schedule a bike ride together? I’d like to see how my hip feels, whether biking will aggravate it or make it better.”