Cycles of Change: Pedaling to Empowerment in Dhaka « It’s Getting Hot In Here

“I think the bicycle has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives a woman a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. The moment she takes her seat she knows she can’t get into harm unless she gets off her bicycle, and away she goes, the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood.” – Susan B Anthony

While we all know that bicycling is a critical alternative mode of transportation, those living in cities of bike lanes and traffic laws often forget just how challenging riding bicycles can be, and just how empowering and emancipating it can be. The following is crossposted from the India Climate Solutions blog, written by Rudmila Rahman of Arohi Cycling

Read the whole post here

Cycles of Change: Pedaling to Empowerment in Dhaka « It’s Getting Hot In Here.

Thank you to Richard Risemberg for bringing this to my attention.

Cycling for Everyone- the art of teaching adults to cycle

 

Our manual for teaching adults how to cycle is now available for free download. We’ve been very quiet about our cycling project “Cycling for Everyone” over the last few months. This doesn’t mean we’ve not been working on the project flat out, we have. So much so that we haven’t had time to blog about it.

Cycle school started a bit later than expected in Gothenburg, so when we finally started rolling in October we had time for nothing else except cycle teaching. We had classes in three different places around the the city and managed to help 32 new cyclists pedal away before winter and a thick carpet of snow put a stop to us.

Since then we’ve been working on our cycle teaching manual “Cycling for everyone- the art of teaching adults to cycle”. Finally we are proud to announce that the manual is finished and free to download the English version in pdf format >>here, and in Swedish >>här. Please make as much use of this material as possible. Share it freely and let us know how you get on.

For anyone with a greater interest in our project “Cycling for Everyone” you can even download our final report on the project for our sponsor the Swedish transport authority. >>here Sorry this is only available in Swedish.

Just now we are frantically trying to find funding to continue with cycle lessons this year as well. Any tips on how we could do this are welcome.

Yellow jerseys all round

Diplomas for “Cycling For Everyone” participants in Bräcke

 

on the open road

 

Our first cycling course for adults in Bräcke is over and it’s time to pack up the bikes and move on to the next course starting soon in Gothenburg.

I find it hard to believe just how quickly the last two weeks have passed and just how quickly our wonderful pupils have improved. We are moving on from Bräcke leaving behind five competent cyclists. Two weeks ago five women were wobbling around a school yard balanced precariously on shining new black bikes. Now the bikes aren’t quite so shiny but the wobbling is a thing of the past.

 

We were visited by a local journalist and we had a hard time explaining to him that just a few days previously these women were “non cyclists” he thought we had cheated and were only pretending to teach people who were already proficient cyclists.

 

 

 

Diplomas for everyone

 

Teaching someone to cycle is just a small part of the business. Learning to ride is the hard bit, having the determination and the courage to keep at it. To pick yourself from the ground after falling off and to get right back on the bike and try again and again and again till you get it. We had a few spills in the beginning but not as many as one might expect. Riding down hill was the biggest challenge. Sitting on a bike and peddling is one thing but when the bike starts to accelerate on its own down a hill is quite another.

 

 

 

Kristina Johansson, probably the best cycle coach in Sweden

 

Kristina who took charge of the lessons also deserves an ovation. The way she patiently gave encouragement and inspired confidence throughout the course was at least as inspiring as watching the students rapid improvement.

 

There was a time, at the start of the course when I will admit I was a bit worried. What have we started rolling? But now at the end all of my worries are gone. I’d even go as far as to say that our graduating pupils look a lot safer on two wheels than many experienced cyclists I regularly see randomly rolling down the roads.

 

The project’s name is fitting, cycling is for everyone.

 

If you’re interested in learning to cycle, know someone who is interested or have a bit of spare time to help and to be part of a truly inspiring project and live in the Gothenburg area, leave a comment on this post and we’ll get back to you really soon.

We would like to give Bräcke council a big thank you for helping to make everything work and for donating helmets as a graduation presents.

Cycling for Everyone in Bräcke (2010)

The first of our planned cycling courses is now under way in Bräcke, a small town in the beautiful Northern Swedish province of Jämtland. Now after three lessons all our incredibly  motivated pupils are cycling on their own without any assistance. For an adult who has never cycled before learning to keep their balance after just three short lessons is impressive. As a teacher it would be nice if I could take a small amount of credit for this, but I can’t. The courage and determination of all the participants is impressive. All the credit is theirs. Here are five women who have proved that they can do whatever they set their minds to.