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Neighborhood bike train all part of morning
routine
By Margo O'Hara
Jane Healy might be considered the most popular person on her block.
Every morning, she leads a group of students to their nearby school
on their bikes.
"I started out just riding with my son and neighbor,"
said Healy, a Blue
Island resident and member of the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation
board. "Within a week, there were five of us riding to school
every day."
Healy started riding to school with her 10-year-old son, Will, because
he and a neighbor wanted to do it. But soon, more neighborhood kids
saw the fun and wanted to be a part of it.
"It just happened. We didn't even have to organize it,"
she said.
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| Jane Healy's bike train stops
on its way to school last year. |
Though the .75-mile ride to Paul Revere Elementary
School and Paul Revere Intermediate School in Blue Island isn't
terribly far, it does cross Western Avenue, a major arterial in
Blue Island.
But Healy said the riders had no problem picking up the safe riding
techniques.
"They really were amazingly good," she said. "Within
a week, they were all signaling."
Last year, about seven students joined the bike train, four of them
on a daily basis. The students range from a second-grader, who occasionally
joins the group, up to fourth- and fifth-graders.
The children all live within two blocks of Healy. Many times, the
students want to keep riding after they get home from school.
"We would ditch their backpacks and go for bike rides to places
like local parks," Healy said.
"It's a really fun experience and I enjoy doing it," she
said, adding that she gets positive feedback from parents as well.
Last year, the bike train rode daily until November. After the snow
thawed, it took children some time to get organized because they
had to tune up their bikes and fix flats, but they were eager to
start up again.
Healy also helped organize a walking school bus, when students walk
to school together along safe routes. As many as 40 children participated.
The walking school bus, which now is led by teachers, gives them
a chance to discover their neighborhood, investigate the bugs and
spider webs along the way and even run through the sprinklers.
Healy plans to do the bike train again this year. She expects the
same group of students — maybe even a couple more that have
been part of the walking school bus.
"The kids were really motivated by it," she said. "They
really had a good time with it."
Margo O’Hara is the Chicagoland Bicycle
Federation’s Communications Manager.
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