Participating in the Critical Lass bike ride at 7 months pregnant - photo by Andreas Morse, Metro Edmonton
Since moving into our new place here in Edmonton I’ve had a few occasions to get out on my bike for short trips. Our neighbourhood library, for example, is a 25 minute walk but a much quicker bike ride so I’ll often hop on my bike if I’m headed there. I endeavour to take quieter streets whenever possible and I am extra-vigilant about hand signals and watching for traffic. At 40+ weeks pregnant I’m appreciating the comfort of my dutch bicycle and the flatness of our neighbourhood and am certainly not tackling big hills or anything.
Overall, I’ve had surprisingly few negative comments from people here about my riding while pregnant – I think I actually had more in Vancouver! However, this blog post was spurred by a comment from a patron in Redbike yesterday. I was picking up my bicycle, which had been in for a repair to the chainguard, and an older gentleman was paying for his purchase of a shiny new bike, helmet, etc. Now I may be wrong, but he didn’t exactly look like a seasoned cyclist but rather someone investing in a new weekend hobby. As I was leaving with my bike he warned me, “Be careful you don’t fall!”
Really? Be careful I don’t fall? I know that Sarah received similar comments when she was pregnant, and I think the people who make them are really out to lunch. Not once in my many years of cycling as an adult have I ever fallen off my bike, and I think falling off my dutch bike would be particularly impossible given the comfy upright riding posture! If you want to worry about something, worry about a careless driver hitting me (not that it’s any more likely now than when I am not pregnant!). Of course, unless you are my doctor or my partner it’s none of your business anyhow.
Okay, rant over, but here are some great links that cover the topic of cycling while pregnant:
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