If there’s anyone who might better capture the excitement, happiness, and satisfaction of urban biking, it may just be Annie Hawkes. “Biking was a way for me to get out in Society, to feel the air, can’t feel the air in a car… [biking] keeps you more present.” Biking isn’t new to Annie, she and her husband lived in Salt Lake City for two years before moving to Provo in January of this year, where as well in the larger city they both regularly participated in the active transportation community and utilized the city’s continually advancing, urban biking infrastructure.
But for Annie, biking was mainly recreational in Salt Lake, and further, she limited her riding jaunts to sidewalks, bike-ways, and pathways in parks. She was new to biking and wasn’t comfortable in those earlier days shouldering the streets, let alone taking up an entire lane in heavy traffic during rush hour. They lived near Liberty Park, so that became one of her more often destinations. “Anytime I did something new, it was on sidewalks,” Annie cautiously tells me in our interview shortly after participating in Provo’s “Bike To Work Day” event that morning.
In Salt Lake she had purchased a bike on KSL for $1,200, “my first Bunch Bike,” an earlier model cargo tricycle with a sturdy plywood box, located in Morgan, Utah. Then in March of 2022 Annie joined the “Bunch Squad,” a program for people to test ride Bunch Bikes that are privately owned, “and became an ambassador” for the company. The program allowed her to collect and register points “when people rode your bike, test ride points,” points that could later be used towards the purchase of your next Bunch Bike. It wasn’t long, in the fall of 2022, before Annie did buy a new Bunch Bike. Using her points and money from the sale of her first bike, “sold to a Sweet Streets organizer” in Salt Lake, Annie was able to purchase an Original 3.0 Electric Cargo Bike, sporting a Marine Plywood box with locking storage benches, seat belts, that “seats up to four.” A formidable and comfortable, electric assist, urban pedal cruiser!
“Where we live now we have three different grocery stores, rec-center, hospital, pediatrician, restaurants, parks, and a bunch of friends and a river trail,” Annie’s voice resonates with more excitement. She learned about the “15 Minute City” concept from her recent interactions with BikeWalk Provo and feels as if she’s now living in an area with such a model. That’s important to her, because shortly after having her baby, Remy, in June of 2022 Annie was feeling a bit “trapped” and with her new bike she and Remy were able to get out and easily find access to the city around them. “Where we live now we’re very connected to bike infrastructure.”
Still, Annie gets somewhat “frustrated when change is needed and no one’s listening.” She cites improvements to 500 W at 300 N, “they [the City] put in a median there,” as an example of what is making her biking experience safer, reasonable, and more enjoyable. Meeting members of BikeWalk Provo, while out riding her bike shortly after moving to Provo, is helping Annie to get more involved in advocating for bike safety and the benefits of active transportation on health. She clearly expresses to me just how much her own “health has improved” in the last year, adding that she has so much “more energy, more patience with Remy.”
Annie uses her cargo bike for transportation most of the time these days, boarding UVX and trains, along with her bike, for the longer distances and trips between cities. “We have access to Frontrunner and go to Salt Lake City a couple of times a month for my husband’s work, museums, to see friends and attend events… even to offer Bunch ‘test rides.’” Remy smiles on the bike rides as well, secure and resting under either a sun bonnet or rain shield, as weather changes, on his way to preschool with water, snacks, and toys easily within reach. “You’re really just more involved, family friendly, can stop and hop off is the bigger thing for us… now a part of the integral structure of our community.”
