The concept for this article started with a simple, hopeful idea: to organize a Kidical Mass family bike ride in my community. We’ve been doing Pedal and Play rides throughout the spring and summer, and wanted to celebrate our kids’ progress in riding their bikes and getting more comfortable moving through the neighbourhood.
The vision is clear and joyful—a group of local families and children riding together, experiencing the simple freedom of exploring their community on two wheels, and ending at a park with a playground for some well-earned fun. This is a tangible expression of the renewed sense of community spirit we are actively building in Orléans.
What is Kidical Mass
The name “Kidical Mass” is a playful spin on “Critical Mass,” the global movement known for its large and impactful group bike rides. But where Critical Mass is focused around adults and has a more serious advocacy angle, Kidical Mass is intentionally primarily joyful and family-focused. It’s a group ride where the abundant presence of children is the entire point, transforming a simple bike ride into a powerful and positive political statement. By gathering in large numbers, these rides create a “critical mass” of riders that makes it safe for children to experience their streets in a way that is normally impossible. Ultimately, a Kidical Mass represents a community’s collective demand for a safer, more child-friendly built environment and serves as a vibrant, visible demonstration of the kind of joyful, active community life we could have if we designed our streets for everyone.
With a lofty goal to organize this ride in the challenging environment of the suburbs, I set a date for September 27th and began to plan. This process has illuminated some known and unexpected challenges of our suburban design, and will aim to demonstrate the power of a community determined to overcome them.
Planning Challenges
Route planning is absolutely the biggest challenge I’ve faced so far, with about a month to go. The goal is to find a balance between an accessible but impactful route—one that isn’t too long for little legs but still offers some interesting views and new perspectives on our neighbourhood. Our planned loop, starting and ending at Father Richard Ward park, is perfect on paper. We will take a quiet park path through Hiawatha Park, crossing a couple of local streets, and eventually return via very quiet parts of Orléans Boulevard and Jeanne d’Arc Boulevard. As it turns out, the process of mapping out a safe and viable route has been a real-time lesson in the structural problems of our suburban design, but it’s a lesson I am pushing past.
This has highlighted and underscored an unspoken truth of suburban life for our children: our neighbourhoods have been effectively moated off for most people who aren’t willing to drive. Any signalized intersection on a four-lane road like Jeanne d’Arc means a long way for kids to traverse, completely unprotected from cars on a road that is explicitly designed for them to feel safe going 60+ kph (despite lower speed limits in many parts of this road). These major roads are treacherous crossings at any traffic level, and they are mandatory parts of the route to nearly any destination that isn’t a friend’s house that you can think of. This is why parents I speak to are so hesitant to let their kids bike freely; it’s not a lack of trust in their kids, but a deep understanding of the hostile environment they face.
This stands in stark contrast to memories of my youth in Calgary, not really because it was a shining beacon of bike infrastructure. The difference is that I had the opportunity to learn the basics on quiet local streets and park paths, and being able to get more places on calm routes through a more connected grid system made independence more possible at a young age.
Next Steps
If specific design choices created this problem, new choices can fix it, and that is what this ride is all about. We need to start building bridges over our suburban moats. This means taking the time and energy to retrofit our major street crossings to prioritize the safety of people moving through the neighbourhood outside of a car. It’s time to truly implement “complete street” makeovers on our arterial roads. Imagine crossing Jeanne d’Arc on a raised crosswalk that forces cars to slow down, and protected intersections that provide a dedicated, safe space for cyclists. These are not radical ideas; they are proven solutions that rebalance our streets and make them safe for users of all ages.
This brings me back to the bike ride on September 27th. The difficulty in planning a safe route has only reinforced its importance. This event is more than just a fun ride; it is a positive, proactive demonstration. It is a way for us, as a community, to come together and physically illustrate our collective desire for safer streets and better connections. We are showing our city’s leaders that there is a latent demand for a community where our children are safe to explore, and where our neighbourhoods are stitched together, not torn apart by traffic. It’s a critical step in building a New Orléans that is not just a safe place to live, but a truly wonderful place to grow up. We are solving the unplannable route by riding it together, and I hope you can join us.
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