{"id":55,"date":"2016-06-21T10:21:15","date_gmt":"2016-06-21T10:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2016\/06\/21\/swapping-car-bicycle-mother-five-can-can\/"},"modified":"2017-02-14T15:03:18","modified_gmt":"2017-02-14T15:03:18","slug":"swapping-car-bicycle-mother-five-can-can","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2016\/06\/21\/swapping-car-bicycle-mother-five-can-can\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Kids by Bike? No Problem for This Brave Woman!"},"content":{"rendered":"

A lot of people struggle with the decision to trade in their car for a bicycle. It seems that factors such as convenience, lack of accessibility, and weather often end up outweighing potential benefits like improved physical condition and environmental sustainability. But those who have chosen to forfeit their four wheels for two rarely seem to regret it. Maybe there is something more to cycling than getting your heart rate up and feeling better about your carbon footprint.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Take Emily Finch for example, a suburban mother of five, who in 2009 decided she was ready for a change. Having recently rekindled a relationship with her left-wing father, Emily had taken an increased interest in sustainability and had started to imagine alternative possibilities for the future of her family. She began to wonder what their life would look like without the minivan, and needless to say, she found the idea intriguing.<\/p>\n

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Of course, when you have a family of five young children to transport, it isn\u2019t quite as easy as picking up a basic model at your local cycle shop. Yet in a testament to her bravery, Emily sat down one night and typed \u201cfamily bike\u201d into her internet browser. She came across the Bakfiets Dutch cargo bike, and everything changed.<\/p>\n

It arrived a few weeks later and her adventure began. Despite being thrilled by the possibility she saw before her, it wasn\u2019t exactly love at first ride. Emily has become an active cycling ambassador on social media, and speaks honestly about the immense physical exhaustion she experienced the first time she loaded up her kids and took to the streets. As she struggled to move the giant machine (the bike itself weighs over a hundred pounds), she feared she had made a mistake.<\/p>\n

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25 lbs oats, 25 lbs masa, 50 lbs of oranges, & a 74 lb zombie who wants to eat my brain, among other things. pic.twitter.com\/KGpi9Abg<\/a><\/p>\n

— Emily Finch (@1lessgmsuburban) February 16, 2013<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n