Guest Blogger: Ditch the car and take the bike

This week we spoke to Hastings Mum, Mandy and her 3 year old daughter Danica who bike to kindy twice a week. They've even ditched the family second car!



This all started with a New Years resolution to ditch the car and walk to work for the 2 days a week that I work. Was lovely walking in the summer and Miss 3 loved her walk to Nana and Poppa’s on the days that I was working. We also walked to kindy most days as well. The walking soon turned to biking as this was the quicker option and sometimes getting home at the end of the day was a struggle – tiredness on small legs made for some long slow trips.

We were offered a small bike for Danica to learn to ride, she was whizzing around after 10 minutes. After some practice at the weekend on the Rotary Pathways and mastering the brakes we started the commute with her biking to Nana’s with me along side on the road. Some simple commands made this easy for us. She learnt to stop when I said stop and also to stop and wait at road crossings as she whizzed ahead of me most of the time. Biking to kindy became normal, far more exciting than being strapped into a car. Even with the cooler weather coming she was keen to bike, so the second car some weeks would not move off the driveway. A few layers of clothing and some gloves and we are off even when it was cold. A few spots of rain did not faze her either, some days it added to the adventure.

Seemed like a good idea to get rid of the second car so that left the driveway in June.

We are now keen to use other forms of transport – our favorite is going by bike. This is easy, either locally we bike together or a little further we use the seat on my bike. There are a few things that we cannot manage so have to wait for the weekend for the car to be available (like the weekly supermarket trip). But we can easily pop to the supermarket or veggie shop for small top-ups during the week.

I wear normal clothes to bike in, even heels if needed for work! (no nasty unflattering lycra) – the only important kit is my high visibility jacket. Not only is this wind proof (a must on cold mornings), but it keeps the rain away also. In the summer I just pop a high viz vest on.

We have also started to use the bus – our first real adventure was going to Napier on a Friday afternoon to meet Daddy after work for dinner. Danica has used the bus with her Nana lots and thinks this is a better way to travel than in the car.

We are committed to keeping up with the alternates – not only does this provide a good dose of exercise every day (and makes me feel good), but the cost savings are amazing. I would suggest to others that they give it a go for a while, borrow a bike and try the Pathways.