It’s a rare Thursday without hockey in the afternoon and The Clairebarian is stoked on the idea of riding our bikes to school and back. This makes for a bit of a process as we pack our rigs into the truck, drive part-way, and then complete the trip by pedaling on quiet roads and gravel trails. Then I pedal to work at the shop, and we reverse the process in the afternoon.
[Aside] Someday I dream that the District of North Vancouver (DNV) will have the kind of big ideas about what bicycles can do to cut traffic if people aren’t afraid to ride places, that will lead to the installation of proper cycling infrastructure that will allow us to safely pedal the whole way there, but in the meantime, with no alternative route, I’m not subjecting my progeny to busy 70km/h+ traffic with nothing but a painted line for protection. [/Aside]
Part-way through our pedal, cruising along the gravel trails near her school we pass a couple of kids she knows with a pleasant hello. As we go by one of them calls out, “You Know That Doesn’t Count For Kilometer Club Claire!??!”
Kilometer Club is a great elementary school program meant to get kids more active. Parents record distances walking to school, to the store, and etc., plus the school tabulates laps around the field. The key to it all is that kids are awarded ribbons and praise as they collect mileage. Claire’s usually near the bottom of her class.
“Papa, why doesn’t riding to school count for Kilometer Club?”
Well Claire, think of how much faster and farther we can go on bikes than on foot. Kids who ride to school would collect kilometers much faster and that wouldn’t really be fair right? Not everyone has an opportunity to ride to school. If you wanted we could have parked closer and walked today.
“No, I wanted to ride my bike.”
“But Papa, mountain biking also doesn’t count for Kilometer Club, so I don’t have very many kilometers at school. Some kids already have ribbons and I’ve barely done any.”
That’s true. And if you’d like to get more kilometers we could go hiking on some of those mountain bike days and record those distances. You have to decide how important those ribbons are to you. And, if they’re only important because other kids are getting them.
“…, but,…”
I know. This is not something you should share, but the simple truth is that Kilometer Club isn’t intended for you. It’s meant to get less active kids moving and excited about exercise, not to be yet another activity for busy kids already running near a calorie deficit.
You have to make a choice. Do you want to walk a bunch after school tomorrow or go mountain biking?