Hello, my name is John McKay and I am a bicyclist. I can’t ride 100 mile days in ease or climb the road to Henry Coe Park for lunch but I can wheel out my “Designed in Morgan Hill” bike (it says so right on the frame), and pedal between morning coffee and lunch in the same day.
I don’t wear spandex tights and can’t keep pace with a group of riders who actually understand and use the aerodynamic advantage of the person in front of them. I can judge my health condition by how easy it is to get over any U.S. 101 overpass, proving I’m no elite athlete.
I know that there is a health benefit from bicycling, but it has to be done with a regularity that I cannot commit to; so I treat my rides like little vacations and take anything else I get out of it as a bonus. I ride for the sheer pleasure of rolling around on two wheels in a community that has so much to see and do in such a small area.
There is a social aspect to cycling for me. During most of the Monday Lunch rides, there is a mother with her toddler in a hitched-on half-a-bike, making it a family affair. Bicycling is one of those pursuits that appeals to a broad age group.
I try to be careful and respectful of others I share the road with, and for the most part those others are very respectful and considerate right back. Few seem to respond negatively to my sometimes slightly wobbling vector down the side of the road.
Our community is proving to be so many different things. One of these things is a great place to ride bicycles.
There are plans afoot to work on defining the safest bikeways to get from one part of town to another, creating safe places for bike parking if you venture downtown, and generally to foster the safest and friendliest place to ride bicycles possible in our community. There are many partners working toward making Morgan Hill the most bike friendly town it can be. But here again, it is the community members themselves who are leading the charge.
I believe the most successful efforts are led by those that care and embrace an effort with passion. Based upon this, I think we will have a very bright future as a bicycling community.
Summer is coming, so it will soon be prime time to get out and ride. I look forward to the potential of some organized evening rides for all ages (hint, hint…) and other fun organized opportunities; but I’m personally going to get out and ride as much as I can right now.
I was recently challenged when I said that there are a lot of bicyclists in Morgan Hill. I stand by that assertion and I think that most bicyclists in Morgan Hill are just as I described myself above—enthusiastic about bicycling but not shopping for a team jersey just yet…
John McKay is a Morgan Hill resident, board member of the Morgan Hill Downtown Association, city planning commissioner and co-founder of the Morgan Hill Tourism Alliance.
