Abstract:Children walk and bicycle much less in the U.S. than they did just a few decades ago. This trend clearly has negative implications for public health and the environment, but it may also lead to longer-term consequences, as travel behaviors and related attitudes formed in childhood can have a lasting effect on a person’s future travel patterns. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 25 sixth graders and their parents in Davis, California to explore the formation of attitudes and behaviors related to bicycling. Our analysis suggests that the children generally liked riding a bike, but also viewed bicycling as being physically uncomfortable, physically demanding, and risky. Parents influenced their children’s bicycling behavior and attitudes through their own bicycling behavior and attitudes and through the decisions they made about their children. This qualitative study is a starting point for further qualitative, quantitative, and intervention studies.