Biking while pregnant: An interview

Biking in Mpls: How long have you lived in Minneapolis, and when did you start biking here?Jessica: I’ve lived here since 2006, so 9 years. I started biking about a year after I moved here.

Biking in Mpls: Did you bike before that, or how did you get started?
Jessica: I lived in Florida which is not very bike  friendly at all. Other than riding around as a kid, and in college I  rode my beach cruiser around to class sometimes, I didn’t really ride. I  didn’t own a bike when I moved here. Not a real bike.

Biking in Mpls: What was the thing that caused you to get started biking?
Jessica: Seeing how many other people were doing it. At  first I thought it seemed unbelievably impractical to ride your bike  downtown and then after awhile I was like, I think I could do that. Then  I started trying to ride downtown. After that I saw people riding in  the winter and I was like, no way. A year later, I was riding in the  winter. Once I started doing it I realized how much faster it was and I  could leave when I wanted and get where I wanted to be when I wanted,  and not have to wait for a bus, and not have to wait for someone to come  get me. It made a lot more sense to do that.

Biking in Mpls: When you started biking did you buy a bike right away or did you just use what you had?

Jessica: I rode my beach cruiser downtown with its big  awkward handlebars that would almost hit the sideview mirrors of all the  parked cars. Then I got a used bike from Craigslist and rode that. I  don’t even remember what it was now, just an old vintage frame.

Biking in Mpls: What sorts of things do you do on your bike  besides getting from point A to point B? Do you do any group rides or  racing?
Jessica: I used to, this year I’ve kind of scaled back.  I like doing long adventure rides or gravel races, like gravel  centuries. I don’t really race race, I more do them for fun. I’m not  particularly competitive. I do it more for the challenge and the  scenery, and for personal improvement to see if I can improve on my own  times. Last summer I did a ride called Oregon Outback, which went across  Oregon on off-road, dirt trails. I like doing casual racing but not  anything serious.

I like general group hang-outs with my friends, ride to breweries, ride  to each others houses. Last year I led the women’s weekly Hub group  ride. This year I think my friend Loretta is leading it, but last year I  led it. It’s just for women, it’s a road ride, and I think it’s  Wednesday nights. This year I decided I’d take a year off from that.

Biking in Mpls: I see you’re riding a road bike, have you been able to ride in that position even though you’re pregnant?
Jessica: Yeah, it’s very upright for a road bike. It  does work very well right now with my condition. It’s getting to be a  little uncomfortable. I’ve had some really sweet friends offer to put  upright handlebars on it, so I might take them up on that pretty soon,  but for now it’s working. I thought about buying a cheap step-through  frame so I don’t have to throw my leg over, but I’ve made it this far. I  only have two more months, so I’m going to try to tough it out. If I do  have to do more transit and walk a lot the last month, that’s okay.

Biking in Mpls: Has anything changed since you’ve been pregnant with regard to bikes?

Jessica: Yes, I haven’t been doing any of the long  endurance rides. I was hoping to do it up until my third trimester but I  found that I’m way more winded and tired than I used to be. I think I  had some really awesome role models who led me to believe it would be a  lot easier than it’s been. A couple of my friends who’ve had babies and  continued to ride bikes were just such badasses. It turns out I’m a  little more tired than I thought I would be.

Biking in Mpls: Has being pregnant affected the way you feel when you’re riding around town at all?
Jessica: I’m a lot less risky. I wasn’t really risky  before, I was always a very conservative rider, but now I’m extra,  extra, extra conservative. If a light’s about to change, I’m stopping. I  won’t take certain roads that I never would’ve worried about. If it’s  raining I don’t really like to ride. The drivers are a little more  unpredictable when it’s raining and it’s more slick. Rain didn’t used to  bother me at all, now I’m just a lot more careful.

And I’m a lot more angry at cars when they do more assholey things. I’m  like, “I have a baby!” I’m sure drivers think I’m being irresponsible by  riding but I don’t see it that way. I don’t see them as being more  entitled to the road than I am. I’m outraged when they’re careless  because they’re not thinking about the lives they could be putting in  danger.

Biking in Mpls: When you have your baby, do you know what you’re going to do to bike around?
Jessica: We’re going to wait until he’s a little bit  older. We’re playing with some different options. My friends have been  really helpful posting links every time they see anything about biking  with a baby. We’re probably going to get some kind of trailer that we  can secure the baby carrier to. Once he’s a little older we’ll look into  getting a regular kid trailer, and a trail-a-bike when he’s much older  like 3 or 4.

Biking in Mpls: What’s your favorite thing about biking?
Jessica: My favorite thing is the feeling of  complete independence it gives me. I don’t have to rely on anything but  my own two legs and feet to go anywhere.