Our summer Super Commuter is Heather Foreman. She’s a velo mama and cycling naturalist who loves gliding gracefully along the bike paths and boulevards of Madison, WI. Heather found love on two wheels, is raising two young bicycle commuting dynamos and her keen eyes are always on the lookout, studying the landscape for rare bird sightings. Grab a pair of binoculars and ride along on Heather’s journey to becoming a Planet Bike Super Commuter.

Bicycles were not a significant part of Heather’s early life. It wasn’t until she moved to Iowa City for college that she encountered designated bike paths and lanes for the first time. “I quickly realized [biking] was much more efficient than waiting for the city bus,” she recalls. Throughout her college years, she experienced both good and bad cycling environments around the world. Studying abroad in Bilbao, Spain gave her a taste of international bicycling culture. “The bike gave me a different perspective of the city and helped me connect with the community,” she says. Conversely, during an internship in Guadalajara, Mexico, she found cycling unsafe despite multiple attempts. In 2005, a job transfer brought her to Madison, where she was excited to put down roots in a city with an established bicycling community. She grabbed a classic Trek 520 touring bike, and her passion for exploring the city by bike took off.

When Heather landed in Madison, she became enamored with the ease of mobility offered by bike travel. It has changed her life in oh so many ways. For instance, one day, while commuting to work, a young man rolled up beside her at a stoplight. They happily chatted, but when the light turned green, “We never exchanged names or numbers and we went our separate ways,” Heather recalls. A week later, Heather’s bike chain popped off while pedaling uphill. To her surprise, the same young gentleman appeared and helped her fix it. This time, they swapped numbers, and it led to a romance that has blossomed into 15 years of marriage! Together, they have built a family of four, all while sharing their love for biking.

Heather and her husband have spent their lives exploring near and far on their bikes. With bikes onboard, they’ve taken the Empire Builder train to both Seattle and Vancouver, BC. They’ve embarked on numerous bike camping trips and ridden the Pacific Coast Highway through the San Juan Islands and the Canadian side of the archipelago. Heather reflects, “It’s amazing to look over the highway and see a pod of orcas swimming parallel to your bike route, sharing those surreal moments with your life partner next to you on a bike.” Now, with two kids, their trips have become more localized, but they continue to bike camp and adventure daily as a bicycling-obsessed family.

Different stages of life can shift priorities and routines. When Heather became a mom, she realized that what she missed most about her previous life was riding a bicycle. As a result, Heather initially tried using a pull-behind trailer but felt disconnected from her first born since she didn’t feel like she could “see or communicate with my child.” After visiting a local cargo bike shop, she discovered a Bullitt bike where her kids sit up front. This bike became a major learning tool in their lives. It helped to introduce her kids to the joys of the outdoors. Additionally, they’ve learned independence at a young age, the rules of the road, and map reading by choosing their own routes around town. Heather says, “It’s been incredible to watch them turn into their own bike commuting personalities.” Her fifth grader now rides 2,000 miles per year in all weather and all seasons.

Being surrounded by nature is Heather’s favorite part of riding. She loves tracking the migrations of mergansers, water fowl, loons and other winged creatures who stopover on Madison lakes in the spring. Binoculars are an essential piece of riding gear for Heather, especially during this season. She keeps a logbook of all the birds that she spots. In the winter, she is always scanning the ponds and open spaces for foxes, coyotes, northern shrikes and bald eagles. For the past two years, she has been a second-grade teacher in Madison public schools and often starts her day with her students by sharing the natural observations she made on her ride to work. One of her favorite sightings on a morning commute was watching a mama turtle lay eggs.

Heather typically pedals about 3,000 miles a year. As her life has evolved, so have her bikes. After her first child, Heather traded in her Trek 520 for a kid-hauling Bullitt cargo bike. She still claims it was a game changer. “We could explore everything together and discuss the world around us, it was actually my favorite bike that I have ever ridden,” she says. Unfortunately, Heather’s garage can only accommodate so many cargo bikes, so she replaced the Bullitt with an Xtracycle Swoop E-cargo bike when her second child was born. The E-cargo bike helps ease the weight of hauling two kids uphill along with the standup paddle boards, garden tools and inflatable kayaks. Her greatest cargo bike engineering feat so far was figuring out how to attach a step ladder and the kids to the bike so that they could pick cherries at her community garden. It was a success, and Heather says, “That was the best-tasting cherry pie I have ever made.”

Through the years, Heather’s consistency and casual riding nature have inspired those around her. “People see me on a bicycle and see the possibility in themselves,” she reflects. She spreads her passion for bikes and helps people gain access to bicycles, especially those without the means. While working with Second Harvest food bank, she identified a critical need to help people get on bikes so they could more affordably get to their jobs. She took matters into her own hands and procured some used bikes for them at the local St. Vincent DePaul shop. More recently, she has helped kids at her school connect with the local Bike for Kids Wisconsin organization so kids and their families could gain access to bikes and learn the skills to ride them. There is a lot of joy for Heather in seeing others find a passion for bikes.

You can find Heather and her family on the city streets and paths of Madison nearly every day, rain or shine, spotting rare migratory birds and soaking in the surrounding nature. She inspires us to use our bikes for daily errands, to slow down and enjoy our time getting from point A to point B, and to encourage the community and the next generation of cyclists to appreciate the world around us during our daily travels. Congratulations, Heather, on becoming a Planet Bike Super Commuter.