By Anna Miller
On most days, Jane Ward, a graduate student in GW’s School of Public Health and Health Services’ Department of Exercise Science, bikes the two miles between her home near GW’s Mount Vernon Campus and her classes in Foggy Bottom.
As a physician and an athlete, physical activity has always been an integral part of her life.
But Dr. Ward knows that she’s in the minority. Most people don’t walk or bike to work or school, and many couldn’t, even if they wanted to.
“One of the main reasons people don’t bike and walk more is because they feel like they don’t have a safe place to do it,” she said.
So Dr. Ward, along with two of her daughters and a friend, are biking 5,500 miles from Key West, Fla., to San Francisco to advocate for safe bike routes and physical activity.
Their journey, which began on Feb. 5 and will conclude in late April, specifically aims to raise awareness and money for the League of American Bicyclists/ Bike Friendly America and the national Safe Routes to School programs.
“We want people to spread the word about how important it is to make streets and communities safe for everybody,” said Dr. Ward. “My motto is ‘keep moving and avoid injury.’”
Dr. Ward’s daughter Jeannie Ward-Waller, a 29-year-old civil engineer, avid biker and two-time Ironman triathlete, spearheaded the trip. She recently earned a master’s degree in engineering for sustainable development and wrote her thesis on methods to promote higher rates of cycling in U.S. cities.
What better way, she thought, to put her research into action than to bike through those cities herself?
“I’ve always been a cyclist, so safe roads have always been a concern of mine,” she said. “It’s especially an important issue as it gets harder to get to school because parents think streets are unsafe, and kids are becoming more inactive.”
Of the 70 largest cities in the U.S., 38 earned a Bike Friendly Community status of either platinum, gold, silver or bronze by the League of American Bicyclists. Only five of those cities are either platinum or gold.
Jeannie Ward-Waller charted the course, which traverses 13 southern states and 20 major cities, based on census data indicating the cities with the fewest cycling commuters. She connected with area bike groups, clubs and advocates that are helping to promote the cause through organized events and lodging. Some local bike groups are even riding along with the women.
It didn’t take long for Dr. Ward to get swept up in her daughter’s enthusiasm and commit to the trip.
Dr. Ward, 60, has completed more than 10 triathlons and eight marathons. After a career as an ophthalmologist in the U.S. Air Force, she enrolled in SPHHS’s new master’s of public health program in physical activity in public health in August 2010.
“I feel very strongly that we need to make as many environmental and policy changes as we can to help people move without them having to think about it,” said Dr. Ward, who took this semester off to complete the cross-country bike ride. “It needs to be the default to be more active.”
The bike ride, she said, is a great way to campaign for staying healthy by using an active form of commuting.
Dr. Ward’s youngest daughter Chelsea Ward-Waller, 22, a senior at Middlebury College in Vermont, triathlete and captain of the school’s cross-country team, also couldn’t resist joining her sister.
“I found that I have no commitments in my life right now that couldn’t wait or wouldn’t still be around after three months and 5,500 miles,” she wrote on the team’s blog. “I want to be part of a movement that will make this country better for the next generation, and I believe more bikes on the road will do just that.”
The fourth cyclist, Stephanie Palmer, has a master’s certificate in environmental education and is a field guide instructor at the Mountain Institute in West Virginia, where she met Jeannie Ward-Waller.
The women are riding an average of 70 miles a day for six days a week. All of their gear — including basic cooking appliances, clothes and bike repair kits — is packed into a van that they are rotating driving themselves. During some stretches, supporters are meeting them to help drive the van.
The team is encouraging local cyclists to join them at any point. “Having more riders will enhance our visibility and having people who know the local routes will also make it safer,” said Dr. Ward.
On their rest days, the group plans to participate in community advocacy events like school assemblies, parades and dinners. They have already received a tremendous outpouring of support and no shortage of requests for appearances.
The mayor of White Springs, Fla., for example, asked the women to ride through the town to showcase its friendliness toward bikers — a key selling point in Florida tourism.
In Columbia, S.C., the group looks forward to being featured in a school assembly and connecting with the nation’s only other M.P.H. program in physical activity in public health. In Mesa, Ariz., the women have been invited to be VIP guests at the dinner preceding Tour de Mesa, the city’s biggest bike ride of the year. And in Austin, Texas, they hope to partner with Lance Armstrong’s LIVESTRONG Foundation.
Many of their connections have been made through friends, former colleagues, alumni associations and social media. “It’s remarkable how this has taken off,” said Dr. Ward.
Team members are encouraging supporters in all parts of the country to follow their journey on their website and blog, www.rideforsaferoutes.com, and to commit to exercising the same number of minutes each day as the number of miles they bike.
“We’re just trying to keep promoting this concept that all of us need to be physically active every day,” said Dr. Ward. “And without safe streets and sidewalks, that can be hard to do.”