We Are LCL: Andrea Loewen
Andrea Loewen, Cargo Bike Olympian!
Andrea Loewen is a busy woman in a family with many moving parts, running a small business with her husband, in the midst of home renovations and planning for an imminent move, balanced with plenty of kids’ activities and the family’s participation in the Canadian Geographic Net Zero Challenge. She recently visited the new Squeaky Wheel Bike Co-op location, and became an instant believer. We caught up with her on Zoom.
LCL: What are the most important things your bike helps you to do, and how?
Andrea in her actual prom dress at the Fancy Women Bike Ride in September.
AL: Number one, it helped us get rid of our second vehicle, because we have a cargo bike and there isn’t anything I can’t do with it! Well, actually, there’s one trip that I can’t make with the bike and that’s to Arva. There’s just the one route, Richmond, and there’s no shoulder, so that’s the only thing.
Otherwise, I can do groceries, I can take passengers, I take my sons to their various activities, even from Old North, which is where we live, all the way to White Oaks Mall. It’s pretty much a year ago that I got it and I’m closing in on 4,000 km.
LCL: What’s the most unusual thing that has happened to you on a bike?
AL: Maybe it’s not just one unusual thing, but I carry a lot of crazy s--- on my bike. There’s this hashtag called #carrys---olympics. If my husband says to me, “Don’t try to take that on your bike…” he’s basically challenging me to try it. The craziest things I’ve taken on the bike are a wheelbarrow, our huge light fixture for the dining room coming back from the lighting shop… I enjoy the looks people give me, like, “What the …” and then everyone’s smiling. I did a lawnmower, a Dyson vacuum…
LCL: How did you first get connected with London Cycle Link and the Squeaky Wheel?
AL: I first heard about you guys through the store where I bought my bike, the London Bicycle Cafe. Then they had a little event, like a cargo bike meetup, and someone told me about LCL, and then I looked you guys up and found out about the Fancy Women ride (LCL promoted and participated in this ride in September). I thought I was going to sell one of my son’s previous bikes that he had grown out of, and I thought, well, this seems like a great place to take it to rather than selling it.
LCL: Can you finish the sentence “I support London cycle Link and/or the Squeaky Wheel because…”
AL: You get people out of cars and on a bike. Say no more. Oh, no, actually, you also show children how to cycle safely. You do. You really do.