Saturday Excitement

My fellow bike safety advocate, Mark Goodley, joined the Boy Scout ride yesterday; it was his second time taking up the rear. He’s a former Eagle scout himself and remembers earning Cycling merit badge, too.

For safety, I’m psyched to have as many adults along for the ride as possible. Yesterday’s ride was a good example.

We planned a simple Bay Bay loop; in part because I had a newcomer to the group, a young scout and I wanted to match a ride to his capabilities. His Mom came along, too; she rode my Pedego electric bike.

We were about 5 miles along our route when a scout made a sudden turn and crashed his bike into Mark’s; you can see the damage to his front wheel. No one was injured; no one fell, but embarrassed, yes. A teachable moment for the boys, so we gathered to discuss what happened, what the young scout would do different next time — look where he’s going.

My favorite part of the teachable moment was when Mark thought he could ride his bike home; I didn’t and used my authority as group leader to encourage Mark to take a ride home instead.

Mark’s wheel will be repaired in a day or two; it wasn’t anything serious, but as the incident was resolved and we continued on without Mark, I had new insights into the take-aways.

By taking a ride home, Mark showed the boys the safe way to deal with an equipment failure. It may be all they eventually remember from Cycling merit badge.