How to Make a Cyclist: Tips for Getting People Riding
How to Make a Cyclist: Tips for Getting People Riding
Last spring, we issued a challenge to Bicycling readers: By the end of the summer, get one person on a bike. The rules of #GetSomeoneRiding were simple: Find a noncyclist. Pick a riding goal. Change someone’s life (maybe your own).
NBD, right?
(It's never too late to join in—share our Get Someone Riding Starter Pack with a friend today!)
Riders from around the world took up the call. #NewBikeDays dawned. Flats were fixed. Finish lines were crossed. (Disclosure: At least one relationship hit the skids—but both parties’ passion for cycling endured.) Lots more people fell in love with the freedom a bicycle brings, and many of them wasted no time passing it on. Here’s what they learned.
How to Make a Cyclist: Tips for Getting People Riding
Kelly Krause, head of SXSW Interactive press in Austin, Texas, spends most of her saddle time with “hard-core road cyclists.” When her sister Nicole wanted to buy a bike, Krause listened to what Nicole wanted from cycling, but soon realized how much she was inadvertently influencing her. “Because I’m always kitted up, she wanted to know if she had to wear a kit on her new commuter bike,” Krause says. “I reminded her that you get to dictate your story with the bike—don’t let everyone else’s experience dictate that for you.”
How to Make a Cyclist: Tips for Getting People Riding
Hong Quan, founder of Karmic Bikes, in Palo Alto, California, helped his coworker Kwantae Kim set a bike budget and pick out his new Specialized Allez.
“You don’t want them to be on a crappy hand-me-down that doesn’t fit or is uncomfortable,” he says. “The bike has to be set up well, even if it’s just a loaner. And bring food, water, and tools, so you have a worry-free ride.” As for Kim, he’s now “one of these crazy roadie guys who wears Rapha and wants carbon wheels,” Quan says. “I went out with him last weekend and he dropped me!” (Read Quan's full story here.)
How to Make a Cyclist: Tips for Getting People Riding
Al Steinberg, who works in Chino Valley, Arizona, with kids who have special needs, used #GetSomeoneRiding to give one of his students another option for getting around.
The 14-year-old has a syndrome that is similar to multiple sclerosis and typically moves with the aid of a walker. Steinberg scored a recumbent trike online for free and, after convincing him that he wouldn’t fall off, encouraged him to take his first pedal strokes. “The smile on his face when he started riding was incredible,” Steinberg says. “We let him pedal around the middle-school campus once or twice a week. He couldn’t believe when he rode his first mile.”
How to Make a Cyclist: Tips for Getting People Riding
How to Make a Cyclist: Tips for Getting People Riding
Shawn Fitzwater started his weekly Slow Your Roll ride, in Homewood, Alabama, the same month we launched #GetSomeoneRiding. He invites riders of all ages on any kind of bike to join the 10-mile cruises, which include midride breaks at local eateries.
Since last May, the ride has grown from a handful of participants to more than 50 every Sunday. It started with a single post on the town’s Facebook page: “If there were a weekly ride—just a fun, simple bike ride, family-friendly, would anyone be interested?” Only two new riders showed up, but word of mouth paid off, says Fitzwater. “Within a month and a half we had 10. Then 30. The biggest group we’ve had is 60—when the weather is nice.” Bonus: Fitzwater says that while participating in #GetSomeoneRiding, he lost more than 30 pounds.
How to Make a Cyclist: Tips for Getting People Riding
Bike shop employee Daniela Gazibara, of Crown Point, Indiana, is always trying to hook cycling converts. After a few trail rides with her then-boyfriend, Alexander, Gazibara registered the couple for RAIN, a one-day, 160-mile ride across the state. They spent a year planning and even purchased a tandem bicycle for the event.
RELATED: 6 Ways to Avoid Fading on a Long Ride
But the night before the ride, Alexander went out and got hammered. “It’s not like we had plans the next day, right?” Gazibara says. “I rode the first 40 miles solo, then switched off stokers with my sister and her husband before Alexander joined me for the last 55.” The couple is no longer together, but Alexander “is still riding and proudly doesn’t own a car,” Gazibara says. (Read Gazibara's full story here.)
How to Make a Cyclist: Tips for Getting People Riding
Bill Bochnak of Lynn, Massachusetts, loves bike commuting, but convincing his family to ride the same busy streets was a tough sell. Instead, Bochnak took them to the trails at the 2,200-acre Lynn Woods Reservation, where his wife and two school-age sons could feel comfortable on bikes. “My youngest has already learned how to scream ‘Wheeeeeeeee!’ as we bomb down the trail,” he says.
RELATED: How to Prepare for Your First Ride
How to Make a Cyclist: Tips for Getting People Riding
How to Make a Cyclist: Tips for Getting People Riding
Each fall, transportation engineer Peter Koonce aims to crush the Bike Commute Challenge, a heated competition that determines which Portland, Oregon, workplace can get the most employees on bikes. Last year Koonce helped his coworker Dan start riding 24 miles each way to his job in traffic-signal maintenance—a commute that he had to complete by 5:30 a.m. “The commute challenge starts the conversation, so cycling becomes something people talk about at work,” Koonce says. “When you first start, if you’re the only person riding, it feels odd, but the more people that start doing it, the more normal it becomes.”
How to Make a Cyclist: Tips for Getting People Riding
When Bicycling deputy editor Emily Furia announced her plan to get former competitive swimmer Lauren del Turco on a bike, we accused her of bringing a ringer to #GetSomeoneRiding. But while del Turco, 22, was crazy fit, she felt overwhelmed by the complexities of bike gear. “I knew that good cyclists use special shoes that lock into their bikes,” she says. “That was horrifying to me.” Furia encouraged her to start out on a soft surface. “The first time I tried was in my backyard,” del Turco says. “I clipped in and out with each shoe over and over again before riding around my block, clipping out and back in.” By summer’s end, del Turco had won her age group at a triathlon—and got her dad riding as well.
RELATED: How to Overcome 5 Big Cycling Fears
How to Make a Cyclist: Tips for Getting People Riding
Marilyn Northcotte, 54, of Wellington, New Zealand, became a cycling instructor decades before #GetSomeoneRiding. She now teaches adults how to ride bikes through a program she founded called Pedal Ready. “They’re convinced that if they haven’t learned by now, it’s too late,” she says. “That’s not the case at all.”
Her secret to helping newbies overcome nerves: “Break down every step for them. Actually tell them to push off, look up, look ahead. Giving them things to think about and do removes any time for doubt.”
Our inaugural class of #GetSomeoneRiding cyclists share nine big lessons they learned while getting family, friends, and colleagues riding bikes.