While Today’s Family is constantly reaching out to other communities in Haldimand, Norfolk, and Halton, we are proud to be an organization that is prominently located in Hamilton. And so, we would like to highlight a huge event that will roll over the city next week: Bike for Mike.
Founded in honour of Mike Chamberlain, an avid Hamiltonian cyclist who rode his bike around the world, Bike For Mike raises money and gives bicycles to children, while also inspiring everyone to get up and explore Hamilton from the vantage of their (occasionally uncomfortable) bike seats.
The event also hopes to inspire changes at City Hall, inspiring Hamilton’s mayor and councillors to reimagine Hamilton as a more bike-friendly city, creating more bicycle-only lanes and investing in other bicycle safety initiatives.
This year, the Bike for Mike event is on May 5th.
We highly encourage our Today’s Family staff to team up with each other and register to participate in one of the courses. There are five: one 75km course, two 50km courses, one 25km course, and one 5km course.
If your bicycle skills are a bit rusty (and you don’t feel like digging out the training wheels), there are ways to participate without getting on a bike at all. There will be festivities at and around the Collective Arts Brewing facilities on Burlington St. While the events will take place at a brewery, they are also family-friendly, with live music, a petting zoo, and a children’s bike parade as entertainment.
The Bike for Mike Ride is one of those events that we love because it meshes incredibly well with our philosophies here at Today’s Family. We love bringing our children out of their centres to experience their greater communities, often from a different perspective or with a particular goal in mind. The encouragement to engage in some meaningful physical activity to start preparing for beach weather is an added bonus as well. So, while Today’s Family is not officially affiliated with Bike for Mike, we are very happy – and proud – to support it and its mission.
If you are interested in reading more about the routes, would like to register a team, or purchase tickets for the evening entertainment, please visit http://bikeformike.org/mike-ride/
