A Severna Park bike path is bringing smiles through Cycling Without Age, a program giving seniors free rides that spark joy and connection.<\/p>\n
SEVERNA PARK, Md. \u2014 On first glance, the bike path winding through Severna Park looks like any other. But every so often, a sight here makes neighbors stop and stare.<\/p>\n
It isn\u2019t extraterrestrial. It isn\u2019t unusual cargo. It\u2019s something far more uplifting: groups of older residents beaming as they ride by in a three-wheeled bike, wind in their hair and joy on their faces.<\/p>\n
The riders come from Sunrise Assisted Living, just down the road. They\u2019re part of an international program called Cycling Without Age, which offers seniors free rides on custom-built trishaws piloted by volunteers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a head-turner,\u201d said Sandy Bishop, who leads the local chapter. \u201cIt gets attention. But more importantly, it gets people smiling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Every week, Bishop and her team of volunteers pedal residents along the trail, sparking conversations, laughter and memories.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter where you sit on the bike \u2014 everyone benefits from it,\u201d Bishop said. \u201cConversations start, memories come back. There\u2019s just something different about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Christine Joyce, a volunteer pilot, remembers one ride with a woman from memory care. \u201cShe loved the crepe myrtles,\u201d Joyce said. \u201cEvery tree in bloom was a new experience for her. It was magical.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those moments have been repeated millions of times. Since its founding in Denmark in 2012, Cycling Without Age has given more than 5 million rides worldwide.<\/p>\n
For Carol Jones, a Severna Park native, the program offered a chance to reconnect with something she thought was lost.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always had my own bicycle,\u201d Jones said. She used to ride these same paths but had to give it up with age. \u201cI was thrilled when they decided to include us.\u201d<\/p>\n
For her, the rides mean much more than transportation. \u201cAs you can maybe tell, there\u2019s no place I\u2019d rather be than out in the woods, out on the trail, outside,\u201d she said. \u201cIt means everything to me. If I couldn\u2019t be outside, I might as well give it up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, with the help of volunteers and a sturdy three-wheeled bike, Jones and others can feel the breeze on their faces once again.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust seeing the bike makes people smile,\u201d Bishop said. \u201cBeing on it makes them smile even more.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Severna Park bike path is bringing smiles through Cycling Without Age, a program giving seniors free rides…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82704,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82],"class_list":["post-82703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}