Back on the Bike - Helping Older Adults Get Riding
In 2020, MassBike teamed up with the City of Cambridge’s Community Development Department to help get older adults back on the bike and out riding. The program included virtual sessions with information ranging from bicycle maintenance to adaptive bike options. The series of virtual workshops were meant to provide resources and encouragement to enable our older generation to get bicycling again. It was just the beginning of a growing program to help get older adults back on the bike.
Throughout the winter, the older adult group from Cambridge came together for a monthly virtual coffee and tea chat to talk about bicycling and what barriers they faced to getting bicycling. Cambridge Community Development ran these sessions with MassBike staff joining in to answer questions and learn more about the barriers to bicycling older adults face. Some participants were already riding lots of miles while others hadn’t ridden their bicycles in years. The virtual chats created a community where they were able to ask questions, share their stories about bicycling, and get ready to get out riding.
The older adult program with the Cambridge Community Development is now hosting weekly Summer Fridays group rides. These rides are intergenerational as City of Cambridge interns & staff and MassBike staff lead the program and provide bicycle safety checks to ensure every participant’s bicycle is safely operating. The rides explore low-stress routes that participants can explore on their own and the community has been growing week to week. Are you an older adult in the Cambridge area who wants to join these slow roll rides? You can learn more about the Summer Fridays: Group Ride Series by clicking here.
MassBike wants to help older adults get riding across the Commonwealth and we are working with AARP Massachusetts to expand our older adult programming. We hosted a virtual presentation with AARP Massachusetts for older adults and plan to have future virtual sessions available.
Are you an older adult in Massachusetts? We want to hear what type of programming or resources you’d want to help get you out riding! Comment below and let us know.