Family Bike Adventure: 6 Steps To Go The Distance

Casual rides are fun, but there is a certain satisfaction in really extending your car-free range on a bicycle. Perhaps, after enjoying a few casual bike excursions, you and your family are ready to change it up a bit, and you need some guidance on taking it the distance. Here is our essential strategy for enjoying every minute of that longer family bike adventure.

A family bike ride is a great way to get the group out for physical activity that will be enjoyable for everyone. It extends your range, which should afford you the opportunity to have a little a something for everyone.  A walk to the park might bore the oldest in your group, but a ride through the park to ice-cream or perhaps a record shop for your teen, engages everybody.

If you have a wide range of fitness levels, load up the strongest family member’s bicycle with the snacks, water, and other essentials. For us, the issue was that I ride the heavier cargo bike loaded with baby and essentials, while EZ rides her light weight around-town ride. Thankfully, bike seats are easily installed on most bikes these days, and Aldi had a sale on bike bags. Now that EZ ‘s Bobbin has a seat and bags, we can share the load fitness benefit of carrying CZ throughout the ride.

Ready for longer rides, hopefully with fewer hills than our recent trip to the beach, we are always on the lookout for good routes, so we jumped at the suggestion, when Yvonne from BIKEast mentioned the Cook’s River Cycleway as a low-stress family ride. We mapped out an epic route, starting after Mass in Erskineville via Sydney Airport, and through ~35km of the cycleway to the wharf at Sydney Olympic Park. The plan was to catch a ferry back to Circular Quay, and cycle the final 6k back to our flat.

This was only our second ride with the new seat on EZ’s bike, and it was much longer than the first. Also, it was EZ’s birthday so I felt added pressure to make sure it was a good day. I took some time strategizing, and can up with the following plan for success.

1. Research cycleways and greenways in your area. – We chose the the Cooks River Cycleway because it is generally flat, well-signed, paved path for mixed-use (pedestrians and cyclists). This contrasts with our typical city street cycleways in CBD and surrounds. With the exception of a few road crossings, we enjoyed the tranquility and quiet views of parks and the river. The parks dotted along our journey provided excellent water refill stations and bathroom stops. The bike-friendly space allowed us to relax and enjoy the ride, instead of constantly worrying about road safety.
   
2. Lighten the load. – With a toddler in nappies, we still carry a substantial minimum weight with the diaper bag and other essentials. I packed minimal snacks and water since I knew there would be plenty of food opportunities and water stations along the Cooks River Cycleway.
   
3. Set a destination, with expected stops and potential early endpoints. – We love leaving the house to simply walk around and explore, but riding a bicycle in the city there is tremendous benefit from mapping out the route ahead of time. Having a pre-established route prevents you from making wrong turn, and landing your flock in a sea of cars racing around the bike. More importantly, it provides the younger members of your expedition are able to look forward to something. We find it helpful to set mini-destinations, such as a park, bakery, or ice creamery. We stopped to watch planes taking off, play in a few parks, and eat Korean BBQ in Bakehouse Quarter, along the way. Ice cream stops, not shared too early, are also great motivators if people start hitting a slump. 🙂
   
4. Plan a flexible route – The agility of a parent is like that of a cheetah. We have to be perceptive enough to see the moments right before bored turns into “I must escape the shackles of the bike seat this instant”. One of the benefits of the Cooks River Cycleway is that there are plenty of spots to quickly pull off to the side and take a break. We braked for play time, water fill ups, and fluffy dog watching. The pressure of getting to a destination for a booking or other timeline, adds unnecessary pressure to an already full family day.
5. Stop while you’re still having fun – As I mentioned, our original route included catching the ferry in Olympic Park back to Circular Quay, but after a luxuriously long lunch (a rarity with a toddler), we realized our current timeline would make us late for CZ’s bedtime. Instead, of pushing through and speeding up our remaining afternoon, we decided to end on a high note. CZ got a taste (through her eyes only) of an Outback Steakhouse, took one step at a time up the stairs, and we weighed the pros and cons of stuffing ourselves with buttery pastries (the birthday girl voted for ice cream instead). Then we packed up and grabbed the nearest train. Unfortunately, it was not the nearest station with a lift – I carried both bikes up and down multiple staircases for an extra workout at the station!
   
6. Enjoy the time with your wonderful family, staying active, adventurous, and together!

Corralling the whole family is no easy task, but with the right approach, an all-day family bike adventure is a great way to spend time with the family. We love long greenway rides with the extended family, when we are in North Carolina, and we look forward to taking our guests with us in Sydney. With a US trip on the horizon, we are in the beginning stages of mapping an adventure day where we will have to earn some of that epic Texas BBQ.

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