Riding Down Memory Lane: October

In October those fall colors are simply glorious and the leaves make a nice crunchy sound when we ride through them (although be careful since you don’t always know what’s underneath and you wouldn’t want a flat tire).

Reminder of October Bike Events

Oct. 7-Nov. 20: Coffeeneuring in 2023 represents Lucky Year #13. Another Mary Gersemalina creation, this is randonneuring for coffee and/or other beverage and you can receive a patch for a small fee if you like to collect souvenirs of your riding. I completed coffeeneuring as a fun series of bike dates in 2019 and in other years thanks to my love of caffeinated beverages, and I’ll be on this again in 2023.

Walktober/Biketober: To change things up a bit you can also challenge yourself to walk more in October. Look for Walktober events and National Walk to School Day October 4.

Oct. 2-8, #WeekWithoutDriving: Organized in 2021 and 2022 by Disability Right Washington, this event will be coming around again in 2023 and now it’s gone nationwide, in partnership with America Walks. The commitment/challenge is right there in the name. You don’t have to bike; maybe you take transit, ask a friend for a ride, walk, roll, take a foot scooter, or yes, ride your bike. Idea is that you experience what it’s like to get around and live your life if you’re not able to drive. Invite/challenge your local elected officials to undertake this and get firsthand experience of what needs to change to make your community really work for everyone.

#BikeOWeen: I’m declaring this one an official holiday. Instead of driving kids around and contributing to the single biggest day all year for drivers to hit and kill children with their vehicles, why not roll out for goodies on your bicycles? Family bike, cargo bike, kids on trikes—couldn’t be cuter. Organize a bike train with friends, neighbors and family to add to the cuteness and contribute to the “safety in numbers” phenomenon.

As a parent you’ll feel marginally better about the sugar consumption knowing that they had to work for it a bit and you bring down the risk of a deadly crash through the simple act of not driving. True story: Reducing vehicle miles traveled is listed in the Highway Safety Manual as a proven countermeasure, meaning research shows this helps reduce the number of serious and fatal crashes. A mile not driven is a mile not running into anyone with a steel box weighing two or more tons.

You’ll feel more ready for the zombie apocalypse, too. If you do drive, remember what Spider-Man’s Uncle Ben said.

#BikeOWeen is an actual hashtag, by the way.