Introducing our new executive director, Molly Miksa

When I was eight years old, I broke the pact I’d made with my kindergarten best friend, to never learn to ride a bike. At five, we’d already felt late to the game, and we were scared, so we opted out.  

I remember the summer of my eighth year, pushing around on a neighbour kid’s too-small bike, eventually lifting my feet to coast downhill a bit, starting to pedal, and finally having the confidence to burn downhill at high speed and jackknife onto a gravel driveway, my skin grating as I fell.  

It’s funny, the paths life takes us on.  

After high school I moved from the London area to Toronto and started to ride my bike everywhere. It was the cheapest, most direct and often fastest way to get around. Many of my friends rode bikes too, so we could go places together, and it made me feel safe as a woman, to be guarded by that metal frame, especially if I was alone at night.  

I did an undergraduate degree in environmental studies and managed an eco store for a few years, before starting a photography business (by bike). Part of that included working with Dandyhorse Magazine, a publication dedicated to bicycle culture in Toronto. I was chief photographer for seven years, and got to meet politicians, artists, entrepreneurs and opera singers, and photograph them all with their bikes.  

Molly and her bike

In 2015, I moved back to London, a single mom with two small children. A year and a half later, the late Henk Ketelaars asked me to write a newsletter for a group he was involved with called London Cycle Link. I’d only met Henk once (donating copies of Dandyhorse to a cycling event) and didn’t know why he thought I should write a newsletter. Nevertheless, I said I’d check out the group, and help if I could. 

My first LCL meeting was great: lots of friendly people sitting around a big table in a cold building, talking about opening a bicycle co-op, and chatting after the meeting in winter coats. The welcome I received was warming, and I agreed to write the newsletter. This led to sitting on the board of directors, rebuilding the website, event planning and advocacy work.  

In 2019, I stepped down from the board to work on a master’s degree in journalism and communication at Western. I finished that degree by interning with the London Environmental Network, where I made a seven-part podcast series called “London ON: One of Canada’s Greenest Cities?” The final episode, released in May, 2021, looks at cycling in London. It wasn’t planned that this would lead me into this new role, but here I am. 

I tend to be a stubbornly loyal person once I get my hooks into something, and I have my hooks in this one. I care a great deal about this organization, about this city, our environment, social justice, and the role cycling can play in making lots of things better for lots of people.  

So many people are riding bikes these days. By building community among cyclists, by offering education around bike mechanics and year-round safe cycling skills, London Cycle Link aims to build confidence in cycling in London. But we also need safe cycling infrastructure, because as I learned when I was eight, confidence is not the same thing as safety. And there is still (rightfully) a lot of fear.  

I look forward to this new chapter in my life, to continuing to build my own skills and knowledge, and to supporting our members, volunteers, and the cycling community at large, as we build and move forward together.  

Molly Miksa 

Executive Director, London Cycle Link