There is no hard and fast rule about the age children are road-ready but SPOKESPEOPLE wants kids to demonstrate they are ready for the road by successfully completing a SPOKESKIDS training. Many people at Cascade Bike Club believe children lack the coordination and judgment to ride on the road before they are nine. The whole idea is to have a fun and safe ride experience. Just riding in Wallingford Playfield might be exactly what a six-year-old is happy doing. SPOKESPEOPLE does not want children to be in a situation where they feel pressure from their parents or peers to do something they aren't ready for.

Taking the SPOKESKIDS training will give us an idea about which kids really are road ready -- it's sort of like having a lifeguard do a swim test before children go out in deep water. We have little passports the kids love that they can complete and bring to the rides in subsequent months that will indicate if they can brake well, ride consistently in a straight line, ride one-handed (to give turn signals), look behind their shoulder while going forward, etc. If children don't have these skills, they aren't safe on the road with cars.

Parents need to sign a waiver for children to participate in any SPOKESPEOPLE activity, and of course kids are always welcome to ride in the park and use the sidewalk to go from place to place. And parents can go with SPOKESPEOPLE when they have kids in trailers or child seats (no babies under 1-year-old).

SPOKESPEOPLE is working closely with Cascade Bicycle Club. On each ride CBC is bringing Bike Ambassadors for helmet fittings and helping to teach road safety skills. Many bike commuters in Seattle do take their kids on the road when they are as young as seven, but these are children who have been riding in trailers and on tandems all their lives. It is a pretty hair-raising proposition to take your child on the road with cars, even in a big group, when they are wobbling and weaving!

Children - and teens and adults - really enjoy the SPOKESKIDS training and feel it is a fun and worthwhile hour. Plus many new riders enjoy the follow-up of a short and nearly flat ride between Wallingford and Meridian Parks. Two playgrounds in an hour -- how cool is that!