Few pets to my knowledge can boast of having a chauffeur driven two wheeler, let alone having one of Provo’s leading bicycle advocates stationed at the pedals. But “Otis” can! Otis is Kira Johnson’s constant companion and one can’t describe him as anything other than a cuddly, bouncing Spaniel. I dare to mention that even Otis might allude to being chauffeured about, because that’s the principal reason Kira began seeking out alternatives. She had been thinking for some time of a better way to accommodate her canine friend on their trips to work and elsewhere about town, and since she has long ago committed herself to active transportation, a cargo bike was a natural. After viewing the crowdsourced documentary film “Motherload” last year Kira’s mind was made up; she next set her sights on a Larry vs Harry “Bullitt” with a Major Tom frame (not the bike your grandmother rode, although, if you had grown up in Denmark it may have been just that!)
Seeing other people, even entire families, in the Provo area using cargo bikes for commuting further inspired and convinced Kira, as her focus has been and still is today more directed towards biking as transportation than as recreation. After completing her mission Kira continued her studies at BYU in Urban and Regional Planning, she soon joined the university’s “Bike Committee” and also became a vice-chair of the Joaquin Neighborhood group. Around Fall of last year Kira seriously started looking for a cargo bike, by January of 2022 she had placed an order for the Bullitt through Portland, Oregon based Splendid Cycles. “It was delivered in a cargo truck,” she tells me with a grin, and once uncrated from its shipping box the bike was ready to roll: assembled, cargo box and all! Kira had chosen a Modern Wood Box for her new Bullitt, pre-mounted and in a natural wood finish. And in case you’re still wondering “what’s a Major Tom,” well, it’s the paint scheme of the frame, a very attractive orangish-red. Being no stranger to biking in Provo, Kira was pedaling 10-20 miles a day on her road bike between home, work and school in 2016, she jumped on her just uncrated Bullitt and today can show you 707 smiling miles on its odometer.
As Kira became more and more interested in cycling and its infrastructure she began to foster a feeling of empowering others who had similar interests in biking. Putting her studies at BYU to work, she involved herself in groups and activities that advocated for bicycle accessibility and safety. Even in her daily road travels Kira brings attention to the cause, “since I stand out… with Otis in there.” “I like the full-body experience of interacting [with my environment], the patch of roses near the UVX Station at 300 N, stopping to chat with people especially at lights, people like seeing the bike and Otis.” So, what else can Kira do with her cargo bike besides what I’ve mentioned (and that being more than enough)? I asked her… “grocery shopping at Sprouts, rides to Utah Lake, moving a friend out of an apartment, taking friends for a ride, I hauled paint for the Timpview Drive Project,” and don't forget hauling discarded cardboard to a recycler from the shop where she works. Kira is Location Director of the Provo Bicycle Collective, a very fitting and honorable position for a by-now renowned bicycling advocate.
