Cycling with a child.

[summerdays]

Thanks for the advice folks.

My main worry was about position - I've only ridden on 'roads' with him at Centerparcs before - with two adults one in front and one behind.

He does sometimes already ride on pavements (with me on foot) so knows about taking care around pedestrians etc.

I'm no expert cyclist myself - far from it. Reading posts about sun position etc is making me thing I should approach my local council with regard to having some cycle training myself as I never had any at school.

I would get the training ... you should find it useful.

As for where you should be ... behind and slightly to the right is the normal position.

She has pretty poor bike skills (almost all confidence related) but when the car is around I'm going to take her up and down a few miles of shared path to get her confidence up.

If she doesn't have the bike skills herself then she won't be able to concentrate on what her child is doing so definitely work on that first. Then if you think she is ready you could do the school run with her or instead of her to show her it is possible.

 

[quassleberry]

I've always cycled behind and to the right of my children when out cycling on the roads. I can't remember what age they were but probably 7/8 yrs.

Even up until my son was 14ish if he wanted to go to friends who lived 2 villages further along I would go with him and go and collect him (and any other friends) but only because they were on country roads (not lanes) with the speed limit of 60mph. When he reached 15 I only accompanied them if they wanted to come back after dark.

On one occasion we were just about to cycle past a junction when a flat bed van left hooked us, fortunately my son who was slightly in front of me was able to use his brain and training to anticipate just such a moron and slowed down. It still gives me the shivers to think about it because my sons front wheel was actually just on the white lines.

The more practice they have the more their confidence and ability to do the thinking for those moronic drivers becomes, until they hit 15/16 when they think they're immortal and you want to lock up their bikes and throw away the key in order to keep them safe not only from drivers but themselves as well.

 

[david1701]

its my sister, god if I married her I think I'd drown myself

@ Summer I'd be doing the school run for her, is the little girls bike skills/confidence that I was worried about

 

[quassleberry]

its my sister, god if I married her I think I'd drown myself

@ Summer I'd be doing the school run for her, is the little girls bike skills/confidence that I was worried about

Be a fab Uncle & teach her yourself, my son wouldn't get rid of his stabilisers until we went & stayed with my brother. Uncle Ash took him out to the green in front of his house and off he went no problem.

Thinking about it my brother doesn't take my nephews cycling at all and he goes everywhere by car and everytime we visit I can't recall seeing many cyclists in town. They are there because someone on the forum is from Chippenham.

 

[david1701]

aye I do teach her, but there isn't a pavement for about 2 miles and if she isn't 'allowed' to ride on the road she's limited to the drive (too short) or the paddock (high grass adds a lot of load) without getting a lift to somewhere :s

 

[quassleberry]

That's too bad, is she allowed to walk down the road?
Is it possible to push the bikes to a paved bit? I know that sort of defeats the initial idea but might be a start.

A bit extreme but you could always knock your sister out, go out on the bikes, then pretend you've been playing footie in the paddock all along

 

[david1701]

she's scared of the cars so won't let her walk it either, seems incapable of reasoning beyond this basic premise

 

[summerdays]

its my sister, god if I married her I think I'd drown myself

@ Summer I'd be doing the school run for her, is the little girls bike skills/confidence that I was worried about

Difficult ... what is the road like on a weekend ... does it become quiet enough to practise on ... if not you need to get her somewhere to practise. What age is she and what can she do on a bike ... for example can she cycle in a straight line, brake, signal etc. You are a nice uncle.

 

[david1701]

she can: ride in a straight line, turn, brake

she thinks she can: fall off all the time (faintly infuriating), she hasn't learnt that speed is good yet :s

much the same tbh outside of school pickup/drop odd there is little traffic, rare I would see 2 cars riding to the village

 

[summerdays]

OK - she isn't up to doing the school run yet with traffic then on-road - but it sounds as if you can practise on those roads outside the busy times.

Get her doing some games - it will be more fun and she will be learning at the same time - if you hear a car coming you just move to the side of the road (my son is learning to use a fancy skate board with only 2 wheels, at the moment and we practise on the road - mind you the neighbours are used to bikes/balls etc in the road anyway ). It's harder to put objects down in the road though but you could chalk some lines and dots for her to cycle around or try to stop on etc.

 

[david1701]

I have a 20' x6' drive she can do that kind of thing on, my issue is she is always going so slowly she is unstable and it means she thinks she is a bad rider

 

[biggs682]

i had same issue with my daughter , and got round it by buying a tandem that way i know exactley where she is she cant wander or drift the wrong way , foget to stop etc etc etc .

and after nearly a running total of 120 miles she cant wait to get on tandem , and hasnt ridden her own bike for about 3 months apart from some pre cycle safety training .

give it a try by going somewhere and hiring one first then see what you think

 

[david1701]

thats a dammed good shout, they're expensive to buy espesh as single purpose but if it got her over her fear it would be well worth renting one