Cycling with children: Four examples of shared cycling experiences
TOUR
· 30.12.2022
Cycling with children: Test engineer Robert Kühnen and son Ben
From pusher to brakeman
I started my first road bike tour with my eldest son Ben around ten years ago. Our first cycling experiences together were mountain bike trips with single trail trailers. Pulling the children through the forest and over the mountains took strength, but combined sport with family life and laid the foundations for everything that followed. At the age of three, I got out of the trailer and onto my own bikes. This required me to take a step back; I still had fun accompanying my boys on their bikes, but it wasn't sport for me for a long time. My fitness dwindled accordingly, while Ben and his brothers got stronger year after year and started to race bikes. 16, 20, 24, 26, 29 inches - by the time I was eleven, I had mastered the lug wheel sizes, my riding technique was better than mine and I wanted to try faster tyres. The first few metres of road cycling went surprisingly smoothly.
Our first ten-kilometre lap already had everything that makes a road bike ride special: relaxed gliding, steep climbs and descents, in other words, everything that low-traffic side roads on my doorstep have to offer. Gravelling included. Ben was immediately hooked. "How fast it is!" At the age of twelve, he now does his laps on his own and when I accompany him, I marvel at the power in his skinny legs. I don't go on long tours with the children; they should do it the way they want to. But I'm under no illusions. In two to three years, I'll be the brakeman. But it doesn't matter, I can already look back on a bag full of happy experiences with the kids on bikes.
Cycling with children: Test editor Julian Schultz and daughter Mathilda
Premiere in Denmark
Admittedly, Mathilda didn't really get much out of her first bike tour. The bumpy roads on the Scandinavian Baltic coast apparently have a particularly soporific effect. But at least one day she can tell her friends at nursery that she cycled with Daddy in Denmark for the first time. Very comfortably in the trailer and - to her parents' delight - without tears. The short 20-kilometre ride along the beautiful cliffs of Karlby and Sangstrup was not only a first for the then eight-month-old Mathilda, I also took her in tow for the first time and drove her through the countryside.
Parental leave in Denmark seemed the ideal time for this. Mathilda had already been a passenger several times while running, hiking or inline skating. But she always had a clear view in the trailer and not me and my rear wheel in front of her. Naturally, I was very worried before setting off; young fathers are like that. Will Mathilda like it as much as mum and dad? How long can the tour take? How fast can I go with her in the trailer? Will everything work with the technology?
But my worries were unfounded. After just a few kilometres, Mathilda's eyes closed and only opened again when I got off my bike. I was relieved that everything had gone well. But also full of pride and anticipation when one day she would no longer just sit sleeping in the trailer, but would take her first steps next to me on her own (running) bike and whizz around the neighbourhood. In view of the numerous rides I do for TOUR every year, this was by far the best "test ride" - and it definitely whetted my appetite for more.
Cycling with children: TOUR picture editor Wolfgang Papp and son Leopold
Together through Upper Bavaria
Parents probably want to give their children something to do. It's especially nice when they enjoy doing sport together. I didn't have to push my son Leopold, but I had to put up with it for quite a long time. For a long time, letting him whizz through traffic at relatively high speeds didn't seem responsible to me. But when he was about 15 years old, I gave in to his years of insistence and we started riding road bikes together after all. After Poldi caught up with me in height around 1.5 years ago, we decided to get our own racing bike. We wanted to set ourselves a new goal for this season: to break 100 kilometres in one go.
He hadn't cycled much before - school, club football and friends take up a lot of his time. So we went ahead with our plan to cycle from Garmisch to Munich without him doing many kilometres. It still turned out to be a great experience, which Junior easily managed with the basic fitness level of a sporty 18-year-old. After we had covered the first 60 kilometres or so quite quickly on mostly very quiet roads and cycle paths, a puncture around 40 kilometres before the finish line spoiled our average. But no matter; covering a distance that you normally only manage by car in a very short time on a bike was a lasting experience and calls out for a repeat - if Leopold takes me with him again! Apart from that, I'm really pleased that cycling has become a hobby for Poldi, which he sees firstly as pure fun and secondly not just with his old dad. There have already been rides with a friend and also alone on the training programme, which isn't really one!
Cycling with children: TOUR test leader Jens Klötzer and daughter Klara
How quickly that happens!
As a bike-mad father, I was already racking my brains long before Klara was born about how to pave the way for our favourite hobby for her. I nagged experienced colleagues and spent hours trawling through the relevant internet forums. The result: an arsenal of child-friendly transport solutions now fills our cellar. A one-wheeled trailer, initially with an infant hammock, taught us the basics of driving physics practically in our sleep (thanks, Robert!). A lightweight balance bike taught balance and a sense of speed (thanks to all our colleagues!). The seat on their parents' bike, on the front of the top tube of course, provided an overview and taught them that there are rules on the road (thanks to Klara's mum!). And the Follow-Me, with which the little one was pulled behind on her first bike, made pedalling a routine.
It's frustrating how short-lived all the great ideas are. From the age of 18 months, Klara preferred the seat on her parents' bike to the expensive trailer; she had outgrown the balance bike by the age of two. The first bike (14-inch) was given for her third birthday; it initially served as a balance bike, but five months later Klara rode it to nursery. The 16-inch bike is already hidden away in the cellar and will soon be needed. In the meantime, the racing cap under the helmet is a must, the jacket should match the colour of the bike, and "leggings like these" are not bad either. Clipless pedals and curved handlebars would also be great, and it's not easy to explain to her why that's not yet possible. But it shows us that we've obviously done everything right so far at least. The next goal has already been formulated: to ride as fast as dad. The first road bike tour together is sure to come sooner than we'd like ...
