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Bicycling takes her places

 Whether it's rediscovering a sleepy town that's making a comeback, exploring Alaska, or improving kids' health and safety, this cyclist pedals at the leading edge.

By HERB HILLER
Published June 27, 2006

Yes, she's a bicyclist, but Linda Crider gets places ahead of others.

Friends didn't raise their eyebrows when Crider, who is nearing 60, sold the Gainesville house where, as a single mom, she reared three children, and bought a house in Palatka.

She had been in Palatka working on Bike Florida, an annual event she manages that leads about 1,000 bicyclists for a week across Florida.

"I could see the bridge, the lights, the riverfront park. I could also see that this old river city was coming back," Crider said. "It was becoming a northeast Florida (bike) trail hub. A lot of people were going to come here.

"I was marking the Bike Florida route the next morning and came to two men who were finishing work on a Victorian house, which had a For Sale sign. One fellow knew about Bike Florida. He said Palatka needed people who understand urban development.

"He said, 'We want you to buy this house.' "

It was still two years before she planned to retire from the University of Florida but, figuring that Palatka was halfway between Gainesville and the beach, Crider bought the house.

She had started working at the university after her marriage to her husband, Dale, a retired biologist, ended. Despite the divorce, she continued to help rear his three children from an earlier marriage.

Crider, a native of Fort Lauderdale, has a doctorate in educational administration from Florida. Starting in fall 1978, she directed physical fitness programs for governors Reubin Askew and Bob Graham. Although she once swam competitively, she discovered cycling while working in Graham's administration.

Crider became a supporter of cycling trails and the state's most consistent booster for the pastime. In 1980 she directed a task force that led the state's Department of Transportation to hire prominent cycling advocate Dan Burden, and Florida quickly became a national leader in cycling and walking programs.

Crider was driving one of her children to the school bus stop one morning, and as she slowly pulled onto the road, she heard a crash. At first she thought she had driven over a trash can. Instead, she had collided with a 10-year-old boy on a bike.

"I scooped him up and drove to the emergency room," Crider says. "Luckily he had been wearing a helmet and only needed stitches. I thanked the Lord."

Then she called Dan Burton; she felt she had to do something for kids on bikes. Burton had just received a grant for a bike safety education program, so he assigned the task of implementing it to Crider.

It was an interesting fit: Crider began teaching and researching in UF's Department of Urban and Regional Planning too.

So for nearly 16 years, Crider has worked throughout Florida to get kids on bikes safely to and from school. She has convinced school systems to incorporate bicycle and pedestrian safety education and to train teachers to get the message across.

She has spoken across America, helping to get $612-million of Federal Highway Administration funds for a national "Safe Routes to School" program that emphasizes education, law enforcement and physical improvements to bike paths and streets. Crider expects Florida's share of this program to reach about $25-million in the next five years.

"This will help more moms to let their kids ride bikes to school, and we'll also make a dent in this huge problem of child obesity."

Floridians love to take summer vacations in North Carolina, but Crider is in the vanguard of those who head to Alaska instead.

A few years ago, an Alaska cycling tour she had signed up for was canceled at the last minute. So she went cycling there on her own. While there, Crider discovered Cordova, a fishing town devastated by the Exxon oil spill. When she returned for a second summer, she began writing Children of the Bay, a self-published work of young adult fiction.

During her third summer in Alaska, Crider began building a house. She is now spending her fourth summer in Alaska and plans to finish that house.

Florida friends visiting the 49th state won't be surprised that Linda Crider got there ahead of them.

--Herb Hiller is a freelance writer and cycling advocate who lives on an island in northeastern Florida.

[Last modified June 27, 2006, 07:05:19]