We’ll be using this page to share details and updates for our second kidical mass ride, on Sunday 25th September:
- Please arrive at the starting points (see below) in good time for a 2 o’clock departure – the ride leaders will say a few words before we leave.
- If you plan to join us en route, again make sure you arrive in good time to meet the group.
- On the Monkseaton route, we’ll stop for new riders on The Links, on the big concrete patch opposite the end of Eastbourne Gardens. Please be there by 2.15 at the latest.
- On the North Shields route, we’ll stop for new riders where King Edward Road meets Edith St. Please be there by 2.10 at the lates
- Ride marshals and experienced adults will help to support the ride, but children are always the responsibility of their own parents/carers.
- Each ride will be between 2 and 3 miles; we’ll ride slowly in a group and make sure no rider gets left behind. We expect the rides to take about 45 minutes.
- Dress for the weather and bring drinks and snacks to keep you going.
- Don’t forget locks if you think you’ll need them at the end.
- We won’t be leading riders back to the starting point – you’ll have to make your own way home.
Plans are now finalised for North Tyneside’s second #KidicalMass ride – a campaigning ride focused on bringing residents of all ages together to ask for safe cycling infrastructure in the borough to enable active travel, especially for children and families. For more on what a “kidical mass” ride is, and why we’re organising one, have a look at this post.
This particular ride takes place just after World Car Free Day (Thursday 22nd September). World Car Free Day is a chance to create, temporarily, and value car-free spaces, a real opportunity to imagine how our streets might be with fewer motor vehicles.
The ride will take place on Sunday September 25th at 2pm. There will be two routes, one from Monkseaton via Whitley Bay and one from North Shields via Tynemouth. The two rides will meet at the play park on the seafront at Cullercoats for a celebration.
The northern starting point will be next to the car park in Churchill Playing Fields (///paints.wizard.paid) and the route will head towards and along Park View and then towards the sea and the shared cycle path (NCN1) along the seafront.
The southern starting point will be outside Kiki’s Kabin on Albion Road, North Shields (///damage.line.racing) and the route will head towards Tynemouth, to the Broadway, along Links Road and onto the seafront to join the shared path (NCN1).
Kidical mass is a family-friendly ride and we welcome all ages and all kinds of cycles – bikes, trikes, cargo bikes, tagalongs, tandems – and even scooters and skateboards. Adults don’t have to be accompanied by a child – we very much welcome adults who want to support the campaign for child-friendly cycling infrastructures too. Children, however, must be accompanied by an adult.
The routes are 2-3 miles long and combine quiet roads, cycle paths, and short sections on busier roads; a short briefing at the start of the ride will explain the route in more detail. We will be riding at a slow pace to ensure riders of all ages and abilities and on all kinds of bikes can keep up.
Qualified marshals and experienced adult riders will be helping to keep the rides safe and but parents or carers are always responsible for the safety of their own children.
If we need to post any urgent updates, including weather-related changes or cancellations, we’ll be using this page to do so. Please bookmark it and check back before the rides.