Biking With Kids

For the last couple of years I’ve been slowly building single track trails in the woods around our house.  It’s great to be able to go out and get some exercise and improve my skills without having to get in the car and drive first.

I recently stumbled across some great trail building information that I would like to share:

Trail Building and Maintenance from the International Mountain Bicycling Association.

Trail Solutions, the International Mountain Bicycling Association trail building book.

I’m planning to buy a copy of the Trail Solutions book, I will post a review when I get a chance to read it.

It has been cold with very little snow here in the North East.  While the lack of snow has put a damper on the skiing and snowshoeing, the conditions have been perfect for mountain biking.

Riding on the Lake

I have made a couple of key adjustments to my wardrobe and bicycle since I started winter mountain biking last year. The first change is for my feet. I tried using my normal clipless pedals with booties, but I just couldn’t keep my feet warm enough. I now use hiking boots and regular pedals, which keep my feet much warmer and allow me to ride longer.

Rigid Voodoo

In addition to swapping out my clipless pedals for regular ones, I also swapped out my full suspension bicycle for my fully rigid one. It turns out that freezing temperatures and bicycle suspension just don’t mix. Last year I ended up having to take apart my rear shock because the seals had gotten too cold, causing the shock to be “stuck down”. I really haven’t missed the suspension, all of the snowmobile trails are quite smooth, as is the lake.

Here is a video and a few more pictures from my 2010 winter riding:

You can ride ice with no studs, if you keep the tires clean of snow

Ice Crystals

Fresh Tracks

Frozen River

I was fortunate enough to see the Race Across The Sky film on October 22nd.

Race Across The Sky is a documentary about the 2009 Leadville 100 mountain bike race.  There was a lot of hype around the race this year because Lance Armstrong was returning to have another go after coming in second in 2008.

One thing I really enjoyed about the film was it showed how many families are involved in the race.  Moms, dads, and grandparents racing and being cheered on by children of all ages.

If you missed the one time showing on October 22nd, don’t worry, it looks like there will be another showing on November 12th.

I was searching around for things to do outside and I came across the Maine Parks & Lands search site.

It looks like a great way to find State Parks, Historic Sites, Public Land and Multi-Use rail trail information.

There is also a nice interactive Google Map of Maine areas, if you prefer to search that way.

I found a neat video about the 2009 Leadville 100 here.

I’m sure this is old news to most, but since I just found out about it, I thought I would spread the word.

This past March (2009), after a year of research and pondering, I purchased a KidzTandem from Chris Brown at Brown Cycles in Grand Junction Colorado.  Chris was great to deal with and has a real passion for biking with his own kids.

Arrival and Assembly

Excitement mounted as I got the call that the bike had been delivered. As we tore into the box, we found our new gray tandem was just as quality as we had hoped.
I spent the evening putting on fenders, cargo rack, wheels, handlebars and adjusting the brakes. I also swapped out the stock seats for the ones that we normally use.

It's Here!

Fresh out of the box

A nice user manual

Ready to go

First Ride

The rain/snow finally let up enough for us to try out our new toy. I took a quick ride by myself to get a feel for the bike. I was a little wobbly at first, but after a hundred yards or so I had the hang of it.
Next the kids took turns taking rides, they were smiling ear to ear.  The fenders worked great to keep the spring mud off of us.

In the above video you can see the optional child’s seat.  This has been great for kids that are still a little small to pedal.

Configurations

Over the last six months the KidzTandem has surpassed my high expectations. We’ve done everything from road riding to singletrack mountain bike trails and the bike has performed beautifully.
Below are some of the different ways we’ve used the KidzFirst tandem:

With Sidecar

The Sidecar worked OK, but because the sidecar wheel is so far forward, its scrubs a lot when you turn. I decided to move the sidecar back to the regular mountain bike until I can build a mount to move the sidecar toward the back of the tandem.

Notice the different handlebars for the captain.  I swapped out the comfort handlebars for some straight mountain bike bars.  At 6′3″ I needed a little more room to stretch out.  With the handlebar change I had plenty of room to get comfortable.

Side Car from the other side

Sidecar in motion

With Trail-a-Bike

We put a ton of miles on with the trail-a-bike. This worked really well, other than the fact that the largest child is getting a little heavy for the trail-a-bike itself.

Trail-a-Bike off-road

Once again in the photo above you will see different handlebars.  I swapped out the kids bars with a straight bar and some bar ends.  The kids enjoy having more than one hand position on a long ride.

I also added Power Grips to the child’s pedals.  These grips are easy for the child to get in and out of, but keep their feet from slipping off.

Singletrack at Bradbury Mountain State Park

The latest thing we’ve done is to add some fat tires and head off road.  We were able to tackle all but the toughest single track at Bradbury Mountain.  My child was yelling “Woohoooo!” as we swept though the downhill corners.

Fat rear tire "borrowed" from my wife's old mountain bike

Conclusion

The KidzTandem has been a great way to get out and enjoy biking with my kids. It is a quality product that really delivers.
I will continue to post about our uses of the KidzTandem. If you have any questions please post a comment or send me a message on the Contact Form.

The time finally came for my oldest son to take a ride on my motorcycle.  He’s been asking for a ride since he could talk, and at long last I felt he had the size and the maturity level to allow him to safely go for a ride around the block.

We outfitted him with:

• His mom’s motorcycle helmet.  It fits surprisingly well, apparently his head is the same size as a small womens.
• His mom’s Motorcycle Jacket.  We had to roll up the sleeves, but it worked.
• Jeans.
• Winter Boots.
• Motocross Gloves.  He uses them for his mountain bike.

The ride went great.  We took a 7 mile loop around a local lake that provided some fun corners and one stretch with speeds up to 50 mph or so.  He was a little nervous, and so was I, but it was a lot of fun.

Now that it was clear that we would be riding together again, it was time to get him some of his own gear.  We went to a local bike shop and found a bunch of gear on sale, we even found a mesh riding jacket that fit him really well.

The gear we bought:

• First Gear Extra Small womens mesh jacket. This is essentially the same mesh jacket that I wear (and love) every day. CE approved armor in the elbows and shoulders, and a back protector. The jacket is only a little big, and should fit for at least another year.
• Fox Comp S dirtbike boots.  Very rugged, good ankle protection.
• Shift dirtibike pants. These have hip padding and some knee protection. I would still like to find him some better mesh pants with CE armor.
• ICON leather riding gloves with carbon fiber inserts.  These were $80 gloves marked down to $20, a great find and quite protective.

Here he is on our second ride:

Our second ride took us on a 25 mile ride into town via some winding back roads.  The second ride went well, but I came to the conclusion that I will be looking into some blue tooth communicators soon.  I would like to be able to have the ride be a little more interactive.

The other item I am looking into is a belt that makes sure that the child rider will not fall off if he/she falls asleep or you have to make a sudden maneuver.  I read about this belt in the book Wheels.

I also saw a father and son using one while out on a ride one day:

Just this week I found another version of the belt called the “BackRider”.  The BackRider seems to be a similar but perhaps more rugged version of the Child Riding Belt.

I came across the FollowMe while browsing dreirad (a blog about a family traveling on bikes):

Above Pictures from http://dreirad.fenris.ca
The device hooks to the rear skewer and can fold up when the child wants to ride on his/her own:

Picture from followme-tandem.com

The “FollowMe” would be perfect for my oldest child.  He’s becoming a great mountain biker, but still needs a break more often than his mom and dad.  The “FollowMe” would also allow us to get home easier when we travel a little to far from the car.

I came across the Mountain Division Trail on everytrail.com

There is another write up about it here.

Looks like a great non-technical, traffic free ride to take the family on.  I’m hoping to check it out this summer.

I did my first century (100 mile) bike ride yesterday, what a blast.

After putting in around 150 miles on the tandem with the trail-a-bike attached, getting back on my road bike was amazing.  Hills that looked like I would need the small chain-ring I could easily tackle in the middle ring, and I could really feel the acceleration with each pedal stroke.

The key learning from my ride is that I need to fit in a few more road bike rides so that my body will get used to the riding position.  The tandem has a more upright position with different bars, so while I’m pretty used to that position, I was a little sore after 8 hrs on my road bike.

All it all, I would highly recommend training with a kid or two attached to your bike, not only will it help with your hill climbing, but it will give your kids some memories that they will enjoy for a lifetime.

The 100 Mile Crew

Troy\\\’s Memorial Day Century Ride at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail:GPS Geotagging