Life Skills 101- Bike Tips & Know-How (Part 1 of a 3 Part Series for Biking Missionaries)

Life Skills 101- Bike Tips & Know-How (Part 1 of a 3 Part Series for Biking Missionaries)

 

With so many missionaries serving in missions with biking areas we thought it was important to help educate missionaries on basic bicycle information. We teamed up with the Provo Bike Collective to make a 3 part series all about bike maintenance, safety and basic information that would be helpful to missionaries serving in areas that use bikes. 

In this video clip Austin Taylor, the director of the Provo Bicycle Collective, tells us the benefits of bicycle usage on the mission along with a few tips. 

You can find the full video by clicking here or read the content of the video below. 

"I served a mission in the Fort Lauderdale, Florida Mission. There, Elders and Sisters had cars and bicycles but a lot of times people were a little bit lazy and they wanted to drive their cars as much as possible. While you can get places faster, long distance, in the car, you're not gonna be seen in a car and you won't have opportunities to talk to people in the streets. 

I always recommended to my friends in the mission that they ride their bikes as much as possible just because you're visible, you can open your mouth constantly and stop wherever you want to. 

Biking on your mission can be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. I would suggest that every missionary learn the rules of the road of their country. For the United States you should ride on the right side of the road with the flow of traffic. Don't ride on the sidewalk, don't ride on the left side of the road because drivers won't see you there. When it's nighttime always have lights on your bicycle. I can't tell you how many missionaries I've met that got hit by drivers because they weren't seen at nighttime. So have lights, lock your bike up whenever you park it. Don't assume that its a safe area. People will always be stealing bikes. So make sure that your bike is safe and that you are safe while you're riding it too. 

Bikes are very valuable tools on your mission because they can determine if you get to an appointment on time or you meet the right person that you need to meet that needs to learn about the gospel. If you don't take care of your bicycle you might not have those miracles. So, take care of your bicycle, follow the rules of the road and you'll see a lot more success."