I grew up in the 1970's and early 1980's in San Jose, California. The school district in which my brother's and I attended schools, did not have buses. We lived around the corner from our elementary and high school, but about a mile from the junior high school. When I reached the 7th grade, I began riding my bicycle to school, unless it was raining, or we woke up, too late. San Jose and most of the state was going through a terrible drought back when I started junior high, so rain was not much of an issue. Even when I got home from school, my bike was how I got around. Whether I was going to a friend's house or one of the school yards to play or riding to the convenience store to get some baseball cards. I always had a bike to get around.
Nowadays, there is so much attention given to the abduction of children and such, that most of us parents are reluctant to let our kids out of our site for more than a minute. Much less, let them ride a bike unsupervised and unrestricted until it got dark. I am one of those parents, too. However, I used to ride my bike EVERYWHERE! If my kids are going somewhere on a bike, they better not leave me behind.
Fast-forward to July 2017. I'm watching the Tour de France on TV and a commercial comes on with these kids riding bikes and some projections of wild animals apparently chasing them. The video got my attention and I used the magic of 21st century television to rewind and play the commercial from the beginning. The commercial is for The Specialized Foundation, where they are advocating that children who ride bikes once per day are able to fight some afflictions like ADHD. I happen to ride a 23 year old Specialized mountain bike, so they are still my go-to brand. My son even has a tiny Specialized toddler bike that he is reluctant to give up even though he's about a foot taller than he should be to ride it!
There seems to be plenty of evidence that cycling, at least exercise in general, helps children gain focus. Kudos to Specialized for backing this type of research and providing programs to schools across the country.
Why aren't kids riding bikes like we used to? Parent's fears, crazy drivers and psychopaths are concerns, for sure. Maybe parents need to get bikes, too and ride with their kids. I know I do!
Tony Gallarini - Publisher of Macaroni Kid North Charlotte
