Submitted by Vivian Medley
Remember the carefree days of jumping on your bicycle and pedaling toward adventure? That feeling of freedom and sense of being alive as you feel the wind on your face and in your hair? Some continue to experience that joy well into adulthood but what about those who can no longer cycle due to age or mobility challenges? Enter Cycling Without Age (CWA), an extraordinary international organization providing free rides on a trishaw to local seniors and those facing barriers to movement. Their tagline is Right to Wind in Your Hair. The very slogan conjures up those childhood memories and immediately puts a smile on one’s face.
Cycling Without Age started as a single visionary ride by Founder Ole Kassow in 2012 in Copenhagen, Denmark, a city with a rich cycling culture. The story goes that while cycling into work, day-after-day, Ole would pass an elderly man sitting on a bench outside his nursing home with his walker beside him. Ole wondered if he missed cycling. One day, Ole acted on this thought and arrived at the nursing home in a rented rickshaw to offer residents a ride. Accompanied by a staff member, an adventurous woman volunteered to be Ole’s first passenger. Word spread like wild-fire through the home and soon many residents wanted rides. Witnessing the level of interest and benefits of this activity, Ole soon proposed that the city of Copenhagen purchase a trishaw for the home. Believe it or not, five trishaws were sponsored and the entity Cycling Without Age was born.
Since that first ride in Copenhagen, CWA has grown into a thriving international volunteer-based, non-profit organization. With the seemingly simple offer of a free bike ride, it aims to reduce social isolation while increasing both the mental and physical health of those who can no longer cycle on their own. CWA is currently established in fifty-six countries around the globe and includes over 3,700 chapters, including forty-six in Canada. Thanks to the time, dedication and efforts of friends Nancy Gray and Jill Axisa, and in partnership with New Hope Community Bikes, the Hamilton-Burlington chapter was established and launched in July 2021 from Welcome Inn Community Centre. It too, has grown exponentially, from providing twenty-two trishaw rides in the first year to over two-thousand rides in 2025 and expanding into Dundas.
The local chapter of CWA operates from various seniors’ apartments, retirement homes, assisted living programs, long-term care facilities and community centres. Weather permitting, rides are offered from May through October, five days a week in each of Hamilton and Burlington and three days per week in Dundas. It also offers Community Rides through participation in local community events (e.g., Bike for Mike, Dundas Cactus Parade and Open Streets). In addition to their fleet of standard e-assist trishaws, CWA Hamilton-Burlington has an accessible trishaw that accommodates wheelchairs and, thanks to the generosity of the Burlington Community Foundation, a second wheelchair trishaw will be added to the fleet this fall. Here we grow again!
If you wander along Hamilton’s Waterfront Trail, there’s a chance you may have witnessed a trishaw ride in action. You may very well have done a double take at the unusual sighting of a cyclist in a high visibility, fluorescent green vest leading a similarly clad cyclist on a trishaw transporting one or two beaming passengers but were unaware of any details or the significance. Rides on this route originate from Welcome Inn Community Centre, Seasons’ Retirement Home, William’s Café or Shalom Village seniors’ apartments. For many passengers, the waterfront trail is new to them and they are in awe of it’s beauty and wildlife (even those pesky Canadian geese!). In early spring, a highlight for these passengers (and pilots/bike buddies!) include the sight of a pair of majestic swans and their adorable fluffy cygnets. These rides are providing not only an opportunity to experience the joy of being outdoors in the fresh air but to engage in some fun conversations about landmarks, nature, wildlife and to reminisce about life experiences. They’re about connection and creating relationships. And the enjoyment experienced by passengers is evident by their smiles and profuse words of thanks at the end of a ride.
The success of CWA Hamilton-Burlington can be attributed to those who volunteer as Site Co-ordinators, the amazing staff who coordinate the passengers at these sites and, of course, the pilots and bike buddies themselves. The unanimous feeling among volunteers is that it is one of the most rewarding volunteer gigs around, bringing as much joy and pleasure to them as it does to those using the service. CWA is only possible with the generous support of donors. While service fees are charged to agencies that are owned by for-profit entities, most costs (e.g., trishaw purchases and maintenance) are funded by donations and annual grants. If your curiosity has been piqued and you are interested in learning more, simply send an email to cwahamilton@gmail.com and/or visit their website at cyclingwithoutage.ca. The Right to Wind in Your Hair. It’s truly remarkable to think that the simple act of taking someone on a bike ride can have such a profound effect!+
