“The more they ride to school, the more they crave to ride,” said Dawniele Richardson Pasha, a Larkspur mother of sons Jack, 7, and Owen, 5. “The morning route this time of year is often about the clouds, and the inspirational feeling we all get when riding to school.”
Five months ago Dawniele and her family moved back to Larkspur after living in Olympia, Washington for three years. Biking to school was less enticing there, due to the colder climate and lack of bike paths to connect towns. Jack and Owen are now enrolled at St. Anselm School in San Anselmo. Dawniele set a goal to bike with her boys at least once a week after talking with parent Kathleen Cutter who leads the Safe Routes to Schools program at St. Anselm. Dawniele says the 50-minute ride to school is great exercise for her family and worth getting up early for because they arrive to school feeling refreshed and relaxed. “We now bike three times per week. I like that cycling gets the ‘wiggles’ out of my boys before school starts. They calm down before arriving and seem to better focus after biking to school.”
Colder weather in Marin County does not prevent her boys from desiring to ride. The family is in the habit of bundling up in December to keep riding. “If I have an appointment and unable to bike, then Jack and Owen are disappointed we have to drive. It’s like they were bitten by a biking bug this year.”
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Be prepared
“Biking is new to our family, but we’re getting there.” Dawniele has learned to be organized the night before biking. She prepares lunches and lays out hats, gloves, fleece coats and neck warmers to be prepared for chilly mornings. The route from their home to school is 3.5 miles, but it’s definitely not the shortest route. Instead, Dawniele selected the old railroad paths as the safest bike route. When she bikes home after riding with the boys to school, then Dawniele takes a more direct route back and goes at a faster pace. Due to afterschool activities, the Pasha families only bikes to school, but not back. She picks up her boys after school and loads their bikes. However, Dawniele did share that this month for the first time they biked back home. It went well and she hopes to do more round-trip rides in the future.
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Dawniele says teaching safety is an important part of her job in training her boys to be 100% aware of the tricky spots on their route. One challenging area is crossing Magnolia Avenue where Jack and Owen dismount their bikes, every time. Wearing bright colored jackets is mandatory biking attire to help cars see them, especially on foggy and rainy mornings. Dawniele purchased bike bells and lights for all of their bicycles. Their bikes have a light clipped on the front handle bar, and a flashing rear light located underneath the bike seat. The bike bells are often used as a friendly alert to dog walkers and pedestrians who share the path.
Fond memories
Dawniele says their route to school will be something her boys will never forget. “We have nicknames for places like ‘crazy bird spot’ near College of Marin where mother birds swoop down on us to protect their nests.” Another section is “the skinny ducky bumpy” path that’s extremely narrow and filled with tree roots. A third place is “the smoothie smooth way” before the Ross Commons near the tennis court. Dawniele says this is the area that Jack can safely go off the main path and have some fun. “Biking to school bonds us. I think it’s something we will all remember forever.”
By Laura Kelly, Safe Routes to Schools, Marin County
