Family Bike Rides: Seasoned Experts Give Us Their Best Advice

As we get deeper into our car-free, family-riding lifestyle, we continue to meet amazing and inspiring families rocking the bike life. We love hearing their stories, reflecting on shared experiences, and getting glimpse of what we have in store, as CZ grows into her own bicycle. We certainly meet a lot of great people on the family bike rides, and we also meet some incredible pedaling families through our blogging. We reached out to the family riding experts that we trust, and asked them to share a few thoughts, tips, and tricks for families interested in riding more.

Introducing Our Experts:

Kristen, Rascal Rides

Kristen is a mom of one living in Utah. She is the writer behind Rascal Rides, a blog promoting cycling for families and their kids. Her site focuses on gear, mountain bike/camping trip reports, and highlighting other cycling families (like us, I might add).

Inspiring and informative post: Bicycle Touring with Kids

Connect: facebook, twitter, pinterest, instagram

Elle, Tiny Helmets

Elle is a mom of three living in California. She blogs at Tiny Helmets Big Bikes, sharing her family adventures of living car-free. She is a bicycle advocate and serial cargo bike rider – her bike loading skills inspire and intimidate us.

Everything you need to know: Getting Started on Bikes as a Family

Connect: facebook, twitter, instagram

Sarah, Vélo-à-Porter

Sarah is a mom of two living in Sydney. She blogs about stylish, everyday cycling at Vélo-à-Porter. She is in our local area and we saw her whizzing by on the bike lanes (her helmet is one of a kind) before getting a chance to meet her in person at Bike Shop Eat at Eveleigh Markets.

Sentimental and thought-provoking: Competitive and Confident

Connect: facebook, twitter, instagram

Natalie, Two Wheeling Tots

Natalie is the brains behind the massively informative and helpful site, Two Wheeling Tots. We have made almost every child related bike decision after scouring her site and reviews. I love her detailed side-by-side reviews of balance bikes, child helmets, and child seats.

Literally every factor that may be worth considering: What to look for when shopping for a balance bike

Connect: facebook, instagram

If you could only change one thing, how would you improve family biking in your area?

We love the casual family bike rides at Glow Worm cycles, and would love to see more family-focused rides popping up around the city. Especially as CZ gets older and more confident on the bike, it would be nice to offer her an opportunity to pedal instead of just riding along. I think it would be amazing to establish a family ride into the city for school/daycare drop-off. How awesome to start the day surrounded by kids and their parents getting exercise outdoors!

Sarah and her two kids out celebrating their birthdays (same day four years apart!)

I would encourage more mums to ride with their kids, especially with the benefit of electric-motor-boost on cargo bikes.

-Sarah

I wish that we had better bike infrastructure—more bike paths and protected bike lanes running thru town. It is tough when your child wants to bike places and you don’t feel comfortable letting them pedal on their own because of traffic. As for mountain biking specifically, there’s not much I would change. We have great bike parks and beginner trails for kids. Maybe a pump track IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD would be nice—but that’s a bit of a dream.

-Kristen

We luckily have a great trail system, but I would love to see biking as an option in our city’s and county’s youth sports programs. Sadly, due to work commitments, we don’t get to get out as a family as much as we would like, so I would love the opportunity for my kids to get riding in as an organized, even non-competitive, sport. More community education about the importance of helmets, especially with youth, is also needed.

-Natalie

What is the biggest benefit your family receives from riding together?

Bike commuting has forced us to simplify our lives by not carrying or buying much stuff. Our grocery trips, errand running, and shopping are all extremely focused because we don’t have the space for purchases made by browsing. This also us to spend less time (and money) indoors, and more time together outside, which we love.

Elle with a seriously loaded cargo bike!

I love how biking for transportation turns the everyday routine into an adventure. Biking is a complete experience where all senses are engaged. When we ride, we are connected to our own bodies, our neighborhood, and community. I love that I can share this with my boys and it’s a part of our everyday lives.

-Elle

Family bike rides can’t take place indoors or while staring at phone. When we are together on our bikes, we are truly together, not simply in the same place or in the same room. We are all working together towards one goal, while being outside and away from technology. It doesn’t get better than that!

-Natalie

There are numerous benefits. The top three are:

1. We spend time together as a family.

2. The kids have learned the “feel” of bicycling as passengers in our cargo bikes and have been inspired to bicycle on their own early on and with confidence.

3. We all bicycle for transport as well as race. The commonality of experience and the shared enjoyment of bicycling is outstanding.

There are numerous life lessons that our kids are learning which include risk taking, doing your best, increasing confidence and practicing skills to improve.

-Sarah

What is the one tip you share with friends and family interested in regularly riding with their children?

We shared our full strategy here, but the main thing it to normalize and destress the experience. Don’t put lots of pressure on yourself to ride everywhere, but do choose a few places that you commit to riding. Wait on the expensive bike purchases (unless you need an adult bike and child seat), and figure out how, where, and when you ride – that will inform your purchase much more accurately than a salesperson.

Kristen and her family out on the trail

Kids are capable of so much more than you think they are. I know so many parents who are avid mountain bikers themselves, but really haven’t gotten their kids into the sport. We started taking my son mountain biking with us when he was 12 months old. It is totally doable. He’s 3 now and does a great job of mountain biking on his own as well as riding with mom and dad.

-Kristen

Find a supportive community. It felt incredible to know that we weren’t the only crazy people out there. Many of our immediate friends and family didn’t understand our reasons for trading cars for bicycles. When I connected with local biking families as well as on-line biking families, I realized that there are so many others doing the same thing. They were able to offer suggestions and experiences so we didn’t have to start from scratch about what would work and what didn’t.

-Elle

Place your children behind you on a long-tail cargo bike or in the front cabin of a cargo bike like the Nihola or Bullitt. They are designed to carry children for longer and as they grow, you will adjust to the extra weight. When behind you or in dedicated seats in cargo bike, they will distract you less and this will result In a safer ride for all of you.

-Sarah

Question the ability of your kid’s bike before the ability of your child. The vast majority of kid’s bikes are very poorly designed and are VERY hard for kids to ride. Yes, kids often give up easily or begin to whine during a ride, but when given the opportunity to ride a bike that works with them, versus against them, those same kids can happily and easily ride for miles without complaint.

-Natalie

Share this post with someone interested in riding with their kids!