Sheffield Cycle Chic, The school run by bike

The school run by bike

After watching the video above the other day over at David Hembrow’s blog I realised our version of the school run is quite civilised in comparison.

It starts off on a supposedly traffic calmed 20mph street which would be quiet apart from parents dropping off their kids at nursery and then using the street as an unofficial park and ride facility, making it more and more chaotic as further parents hunt for parking spaces.

The next bit is through what should be some quiet residential roads, except at school time they become rat runs with cars hurtling through at 40mph. One of the upsides of the recession has been the closure of the private school, which means we no longer have to run the gauntlet of the RangeRovers and Porche Cayenne’s double parked on the roundabout and crossing the road is much easier and safer!

Anyway through all this eldest daughter cycles on the pavement and I ride next to her on the road.

We continue this arrangement onto the main road - a bus route and in the last 12 months a rat run for HGV’s (which is clearly a result of increased sat-nav usage)

Eldest daughter likes her independence so usually deviates from the path to ride through the church car park.

I cant see her for a while until we meet at the other side.

At this point the cars parked at the side of the road usually increases to the point where I can’t see her properly and she doesn’t like it so I join her on the pavement.

There are a few side roads to cross which at school time are busy with parents trying to park. Usually we start to see quite a few other kids cycling at this point.

Heading down the hill is very congested with loads of kids and their parents walking, scooting and cycling on a narrow pavement. The road is usually backed up with cars at a standstill queuing to get to the roundabout.

Finally at the school playground and there is plenty of evidence of cycling parents…