It’s Bike Week 2024 and with the weather turning nicer and nicer, folks are looking to get back out on the roads for a little exercise, and take advantage of the great biking infrastructure we have in Milwaukee. In this month’s Drivers Ed with Debbie, she sits down with a bike expert to see how things are going.

Do you remember your first bike? It was your first feeling of freedom. You thought, now that I have my own transportation, I can go anywhere.

Well, it’s true.

“There is no doubt that bikes help kids explore more and feel, you know, the self-confidence just grows so much more when you are on a bike and the freedom that you get is just parallel to none,” says Owner of Wheel & Sprocket, Amelia Kegel.

She says it truly is a rite of passage for kids as well as parents. I mean, who doesn’t remember running alongside your kid as they finally got rid of those training wheels?

It’s not just about wheels, pedals, and brakes these days.
Kegel says “There is no doubt that the cheapest bicycle is going to be from a department store. But I’ve got to just say, the bikes that you get from a department store are not built to last.”

Most bike shops have upped their game when it comes to selection. Their bikes range from the most economical to the high-end, ultra-competitive $15,000 models for the Ironman races. But it wasn’t always like this. During the height of the pandemic, many shops had an inventory issue.

“There used to be no bikes in bike stores, but if you can see behind me, we are at the best stocking level we’ve actually ever been. [Supply chain] has been an issue, but we’ve navigated it,accordingly. We may not have exactly the right color, the right size, but we have a bike that’ll do what you are looking to do,” explains Kegel.

And with the road improvements specifically for bikes in many municipalities, it’s making things easier to get around in this mode.

But don’t forget, Wisconsin has some of the best bike trails in the country.

Kegel says, “And if you haven’t been on a bike in a while, like this might be the summer for you. We’ve never had better bike infrastructure here in the city. Milwaukee has the Oak Leaf Trail system that’s 120 miles that spans like north, south, east, and west of the city. The connectivity of bike paths has never been better, too.”

Oh, and please remember, if you are on a bike, you are required to follow all the rules of the road, like cars. So stop lights, stop signs, yield signs, and crossing signals all apply to you, too.

It’s all about being predictable. Most car versus bike accidents happen because the driver didn’t know what the biker was about to do. So best to keep all the hand signals and rules you learned as a kid in mind. They still apply. So take some time this week to get in touch with that kid again, and remember this philosophy, good for learning to ride, as well as a metaphor for life:

If you look at the ditch, you go in the ditch. But in this life, if you look at the road, you stay on the road.

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