How to Have a Successful Family Cycling Outing

Cycling with kids is completely different than cycling with your friends as a social activity, or cycling for fitness. Cycling with kids is all about building bonds and less about working on fitness goals. Cycling with kids is about making good memories for everyone!

The best thing about cycling with your kids and making cycling a family activity, is chances are, you've created a cyclist. Kids who grow up riding bikes are more likely to keep riding as adults, to be considerate to cyclists when they get behind the wheel of a car and to develop their own traditions of family activity with their own children.

How can you beat that?

In order to make that outing successful your adventure needs to be well planned and you need to have clear expectations of your own abilities as well as your child's.

Know Where You Are Going
Have a route planned. Most inexperienced cyclists aren't going to be comfortable riding on the road, with cars, or in hilly or technical terrain. Mountain biking is great fun, but it isn't easy. Mountain biking requires some specific equipment and some skills as well as fitness. Riding a hard, flat dirt path at the beach isn't mountain biking, that's riding in the dirt and even the most basic kid's bike is capable of that.

Even if you've found the perfect paved path outside of the city, where the air is fresh and there are lots of things to see, remember, a 5 year old may only be capable of riding a mile - or even less. No one is going to be happy driving 2 hours and riding for 15 minutes! The amenities that work for you, may not work for your family. Bathroom facilities, snacks, interesting things to see, places to take little breaks, a destination to ride to - all things to consider. We can help. Since riding with kids is important to us, come in and ask! We can make suggestions, refer you to resources for places to ride, provide ideas and moral support - whatever you need.

Logistics
Please don't get up some summer Saturday morning, read this and get inspired to go ride with your kids right then! Well, its ok if you do, but consider this. The bikes are in the storage shed, the tires are flat, one of your kids tells you his knees are hitting the handlebars and your other kid can't find her helmet. So you stuff all the bikes in the trunk of your car and head on over to the bike shop. A little air, a new helmet, raise those bars - and your ready to roll.

So you bring your spider web encrusted bikes to your favorite bicycle shop (hopefully Bicycle South), around noon, and wait in line to see the mechanic for 20 minutes. When your turn comes, you find out that one bike has an entirely rust covered chain, because it got left out in the rain and that chain needs to be replaced. Another bike has no brakes. Oh, and the bike that your kid is complaining that his knees hit the handlebars? Well, that fit him in 1st grade and he is now in middle school. Those bars aren't going up any higher. The worst part? It's a week before you'll get those bikes back.

We applaud your desire to ride, but please, please, come and see us before you tell your kids you are going riding today. Bring us the bikes, even if you kept them carefully in the garage, let us check them out and make sure they stop as well as go, that you know how to maintain tire pressure and look at some alternatives for stuffing all the bikes in the trunk! Oh - and it never hurts for us to make sure the bike is the right size for your child - because kids grow!

Ready To Go Now!
Ok, bikes are set with properly inflated tires and everyone has a bike that fits them right and you have a good way to transport them. You've got a route planned and you know how to get there. Everyone has a helmet that fits their head correctly and comfortable clothes. You are ready to set out. So what next?

Everyone has to eat, first. Everyone has to eat breakfast and be well hydrated. You need to be able to have water and snacks while you ride. How many kids are you taking? Are you a single dad with 5 kids? Consider conscripting a friend to come with you, unless you have older kids who are pretty independent and trustworthy to ride on ahead or that can and want to help with little kids. Chasing 5 kids around might be good exercise, but not a lot of fun. Remember, patience has to be your mantra. You may have to remind your family to stick together, ride single file, pass on the left, stay to the right, watch for pedestrians, in every other breath. It is probably easiest to take last place when riding with kids, unless they are pretty experienced. This way, they set the pace, you can watch them and anything coming up ahead. Keep in mind, if you've got a big age and skill spread, that your older kids are going to ride 3 or 4 times faster as the kid on a 12" bike with training wheels. Consider riding on different occasions with different kids, or putting the littlest ones in a trailer or a trailercycle.

Age and Ability
If you aren't sure what your kids are capable of, here is a rough guide. Really little ones are the easiest to ride with. Kids 1 to 5 years can either fit in a childseat, a bike trailer or on a trailercycle. For real distance (10 miles or more) a trailer beats the childseat hands down. Getting on and off the bike is easier if you aren't having to have someone spot you with a kid in a childseat, if your kid falls asleep, they aren't going to slump and slither in that childseat. Trailers have are places for toys - to stay IN the trailer, and best - you've got a ready place for snacks, diaperbags, bottles of water, jackets, sunscreen, the cell phone and whatever else you need to carry! Older kids who are pedaling around on a tricycle or a bike with training wheels are perfect candidates for a trailercycle. Make sure that trailercycle fits! If your child cannot comfortably reach the pedals in a full revolution, they need to grow a little more before you graduate to the trailercycle. They also need to be able to sit up comfortably, and follow directions!

Kids 5 to 8 probably are going to be the biggest challenge (unless you have athletes or angels). They aren't quite able to estimate their own physical capabilities accurately, but there are 7 year olds that can ride 20 miles! You might spend the entire 20 miles reminding your 7 year old to "please stay to the right and look where you are going." Cycling skills may still be developing at that point too. Your child might entirely forget how the brakes work as they head down that hill and veer off into the bushes.

Kids 8 and up are capable of amazing stuff. Pretty much every year someone from Bicycle South goes to Bicycle Ride Across Georgia (BRAG). BRAG is a family orientated event, a week of cycling across the state with 1500 other happy people. Daily routes are 45 to 85 miles, depending on the overall route. There are tons of kids on BRAG and plenty of 8 to 10 year olds riding the entire daily distance, or a big chunk of it. However, most of these kids started out doing BRAG in a trailer, with their families and cycling is part of their family culture. Those kids have trained, much like the adults doing the same mileage. So don't expect your 8 year old who just got their first bike with gears to be capable of more than a few miles at first.

We will leave you to decide about what your preteens and teens can handle. Most kids at age 12 or so can keep up with their parents (and probably tire those same parents out) and can manage most of the things they might run into on a paved bicycle path. Kids with some experience at that age can also ride by themselves in safe, parent approved places.

Practice, practice, practice
Your neighborhood may be the first place your family rides in. Get everyone used to riding and listening for instructions. Those first few family outings may be pretty tame, but they still can be fun. Ride to the park, to go get ice cream. Ride to the library (be sure and have bike locks). Ride to a friend's house - even ride to school!