Time Waster
Veteran
Son is 12yo and is getting into MTB after we got him a decent FS MTB secondhand. he rides with mates local trails and jumps. He is keen on mountain biking.
Partner was into MTB before we met and she used to race when living overseas and do ofroad tours. She also toured China decades ago for 3 months too. She is not fast, better uphill but slow and steady down hill. She has an old hard tail with road tyres as we mostly road cycled as a family when son was younger (4 years cycle touring from when son was 3.5yo to 6.5 yo). Then he lost interest in cycling and we stopped riding so much.
Me? Well riding kids bikes from year dot, then at 9yo my dad (who used to road race when a young man on a skip find italian road bike he put together from parts he found) bought me a Dawes steel road bike I rode until 16 or 17 when II bought my own and much better road bike from holiday job money. I then rode a lot in the Ribble valley / East Lancashire until University called and I left it alone. More recently it hass been cycle commuting with the odd leisure ride and very rarer offroad ride with son. About 9 years ago I got a Planetx London Road bike and after that a touring recumbent and a Brompton. I am a road cyclist but I have 38mm marathon pluses on my Planet X london road and use that on MTB trail centres llike Gisburn with my son and partner. I used to ride in on 32mm tyres on Grizedale and in the Scottish Stanes too.
So now we are planning on once a month doing an MTB ride with son (either me alone with him or my partner too). We are thinking Whinlatter to start with and I will hire a MTB there. AT some point we will want to leave the centres and go wild in the Lakes so any ideas on how to go about that? Good routes for a beginner like me? I will of course, if we get that far, buy a cheap but decent hardtail for that. My partner is possibly not going to come with us to the trail centres. She finds them too male and macho in attitude so doesn't lilke them. Hence the idea to eventually go on bridlepaths and tracks in the wider Lakes.
We are not technical riders offroad but our son is getting that way. So any idea of somewhere local to South Cumbria that is ok for our son to do the technical bits (possibly with a mate who might be more technical rider than son is) but also allows me and my partner (his mum) to go on an easier route. Do they ever have hard sections with easier chicken runs around them to allow adults to keep an eye on more adventurous kids??
Also, Any advice on getting fit to ride with my 12yo son??
Also, any good helmets for a 12yo for MTB use considering he will grow out of them or break them in no time? Also any good general use helmet for me (large head)? I am mostly road use so that is its main purpose for commuting and leisure road riding but I would still use it offroad MTB ing too. One helmet to do it all??
Any advice on anything I have not thought of asking? I am an experienced rider and have been on here for years. I do know a lot but I am not up on kit. I am not up on MTB at all. I am not up on what Grizedale / Whinlatter and any other LAkes trail centres are like (Grizedale was the only one when I first knew about offroad riding). AIUI Grizedale is more technical and Whinlatter is more family friendly. Is that fair assessment?
Partner was into MTB before we met and she used to race when living overseas and do ofroad tours. She also toured China decades ago for 3 months too. She is not fast, better uphill but slow and steady down hill. She has an old hard tail with road tyres as we mostly road cycled as a family when son was younger (4 years cycle touring from when son was 3.5yo to 6.5 yo). Then he lost interest in cycling and we stopped riding so much.
Me? Well riding kids bikes from year dot, then at 9yo my dad (who used to road race when a young man on a skip find italian road bike he put together from parts he found) bought me a Dawes steel road bike I rode until 16 or 17 when II bought my own and much better road bike from holiday job money. I then rode a lot in the Ribble valley / East Lancashire until University called and I left it alone. More recently it hass been cycle commuting with the odd leisure ride and very rarer offroad ride with son. About 9 years ago I got a Planetx London Road bike and after that a touring recumbent and a Brompton. I am a road cyclist but I have 38mm marathon pluses on my Planet X london road and use that on MTB trail centres llike Gisburn with my son and partner. I used to ride in on 32mm tyres on Grizedale and in the Scottish Stanes too.
So now we are planning on once a month doing an MTB ride with son (either me alone with him or my partner too). We are thinking Whinlatter to start with and I will hire a MTB there. AT some point we will want to leave the centres and go wild in the Lakes so any ideas on how to go about that? Good routes for a beginner like me? I will of course, if we get that far, buy a cheap but decent hardtail for that. My partner is possibly not going to come with us to the trail centres. She finds them too male and macho in attitude so doesn't lilke them. Hence the idea to eventually go on bridlepaths and tracks in the wider Lakes.
We are not technical riders offroad but our son is getting that way. So any idea of somewhere local to South Cumbria that is ok for our son to do the technical bits (possibly with a mate who might be more technical rider than son is) but also allows me and my partner (his mum) to go on an easier route. Do they ever have hard sections with easier chicken runs around them to allow adults to keep an eye on more adventurous kids??
Also, Any advice on getting fit to ride with my 12yo son??
Also, any good helmets for a 12yo for MTB use considering he will grow out of them or break them in no time? Also any good general use helmet for me (large head)? I am mostly road use so that is its main purpose for commuting and leisure road riding but I would still use it offroad MTB ing too. One helmet to do it all??
Any advice on anything I have not thought of asking? I am an experienced rider and have been on here for years. I do know a lot but I am not up on kit. I am not up on MTB at all. I am not up on what Grizedale / Whinlatter and any other LAkes trail centres are like (Grizedale was the only one when I first knew about offroad riding). AIUI Grizedale is more technical and Whinlatter is more family friendly. Is that fair assessment?
