On the morning of Saturday, September 27, 2025, the streets of Convent Glen North filled with the cheerful sound of laughter, bike bells, and even a handful of cow bells. This Orléans edition of the Kidical Mass bike ride served as a vibrant and successful capstone to the Convent Glen Orléans Wood (CGOW) Community Association’s spring and summer of weekly Pedal and Play community bike rides.
The event was a powerful demonstration of community spirit, blending a free, family-friendly celebration with focused advocacy for making Orléans more resilient and accessible to residents of all ages.
A Morning of Community and Colour
The fun kicked off at 9:30 AM at Father Richard Ward Park, located right behind des Voyageurs school. A happy crowd of volunteers was finishing setting everything up, while families and neighbours gathered for pre-ride activities like decorating their bikes or playing on the playground.
The ride itself was designed for maximum inclusivity: a slow-paced, scenic 3-kilometre loop through Convent Glen North and Hiawatha Park. Participants of all ages, abilities, and caretaking responsibilities—from toddlers in bike seats to grandparents—were invited to ride together.
The Advocacy Message: The Why Behind the Fun
Kidical Mass is an international movement that uses joyful bike parades to call on cities to make streets safe for kids, and therefore safe for everyone. The route chosen for the Orléans ride deliberately highlighted that safety is not just a cycling issue—it is a community one. Before the ride, I went through and catalogued all the places on the route that could be made more cycling friendly through upgrades or changes to infrastructure, you can read that here: The Kidical Mass is a Fun Family Bike Ride in Orleans, But It’s Also More Than That.
The ride’s route through Convent Glen North demonstrated the necessity of proactive road design changes to create a safer, more accessible environment. The core advocacy messages highlighted were rooted in Vision Zero principles:
- Protecting Vulnerable Users: We call for connected and protected bike infrastructure, especially along major roads where children on bikes and pedestrians are most vulnerable to injury from collision with vehicles.
- Creating Safe Corridors: Advocacy focused on the need for separated and wide bike lanes that connect key destinations like schools, parks, and community centres.
- Designing for Safety: The slow pace emphasized the need for traffic calming features and reduced speed limits on residential and arterial streets. Safe design must ensure that when mistakes happen on the road, whether the error is made by a 5-year old on bike or a 40-year old driver, they don’t cause life-changing impacts.
The event also underscores that the push for safe streets aligns with addressing the climate emergency (by reducing private vehicle use) and creating a more financially resilient, socially connected, and walkable community.
Thank You: The Power of Volunteers and Partners
The success of the Kidical Mass ride was entirely dependent on strong community and volunteer collaboration. This event was proudly presented by Kidical Mass Ottawa and The New Orleans, in partnership with the Convent Glen Orléans Wood (CGOW) Community Association and Bike Ottawa. We also want to thank For Our Kids – Ottawa Gatineau and School Streets Ottawa for their trailblazing work on safer streets for kids.
We extend our sincere gratitude to all the volunteers who dedicated their time and energy to marshalling the route, running the repair and activity stations, assisting with any first aid, and helping with setup and teardown.
Thanks to Bushtukah, Dave the Bike Guy, and Savvy Party for coming out to support the ride and the event! Lastly, we are also very grateful to all the families who showed up, helping to make the ride a huge success. We had over 50 riders come out to show their support for safe streets for people of all ages.
What’s Next? Staying Involved
This Kidical Mass ride was a great capstone to a cycling season in Orléans (along with our weekly Pedal and Play rides) dedicated to promoting active and safe community life in our suburbs. This ride demonstrated strong local support for an Orléans that can be travelled by bike.
If you haven’t seen my summary of our ways in which our route could be made more friendly to cyclists and pedestrians, read it here: The Kidical Mass is a Fun Family Bike Ride in Orleans, But It’s Also More Than That. I’m planning a narrated video tour of the route to talk through these issues in the near future.
For those interested in learning more about local advocacy or volunteering with other events like this in Orléans, please reach out to [email protected].
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