Biking
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Under development: Your source for how to take your kids on biking adventures, starting before they can pedal on their own. 

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Bike commuting with kids

In a perfect world for most outdoor families our kids walk or bike (or ski) to school each day. We don’t want to strap them into cars for the short journey to school, or we want to bike commute ourselves. This is great when the weather is perfect and the sun is out, but then there’s the rest of the year. And many of us (ourselves included) are part of a two working parent family, so the kids are in after school programs or all-day daycare/preschool and have to be picked up when it's dark out.

​What are the best ways to get the kids to school and home as safely as possible, while minimizing whining?

Make it a habit: 
  • If they know it will happen (almost) every day, and you won’t change your mind, there will be less whining. 

Make it fun: 
  • Put fun lights on their bikes.
  • Make sure they have warm clothes
  • Make sure they have rain pants/jacket if it’s raining
  • Put a bell on their handlebars
  • Put toys in the trailer
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Wearing rain pants and gloves for warmth (not an example of true winter of course)
Ikea reflective vest
Keep them visible:
  • Reflective vest (we loved the Ikea Patrull but unfortunately it seems to be discontinued)
  • Reflective backpack
  • Front/back lights - make sure they’re charged up,
  • Spoke lights
  • Light up your trailer
    • I built a lighting system out of red LED strip lights hooked up to a battery pack with a blinking function, but it might be so much easier to just buy some battery powered Christmas net lights
  • If it's better for your route, have them bike on the sidewalk instead of the road
    • But read your local ordinance to determine the legal age ranges - where we live under 13 are allowed to but not adults
Set up an organization system for the gear:
  • Getting to school:
    • Have the parent bring any critical items with them so that they don’t get left behind in classrooms
      • Helmets, warm layers they don't need for playing, reflective vest
  • Coming home:
    • Create a routine for charging the lights to make sure you the batteries run out
    • Set up a storage system for the gear at home so everything is easy to get to
    • Get kids in the routine of putting everything away as soon as they come home

Here are some tips on gear to use:

Clothing:
  • Warm layers:
  • Hands:
    • Full-finger bike glove or ski liner glove
    • Ski mitten (if very cold and if the kid can operate the brakes safely)
      • I used an OR shell mitten over warm gloves when biking in the winter in Wisconsin, because it blocked the wind and had more dexterity than an insulated mitten, but it doesn't seem like anyone makes something like that for kids
  • Wet weather gear:
    • Rainpants to pull on over school clothes
    • Rain jacket
    • Rainboots

Bikes:
  • For babies/toddlers - bike trailer or WeeHoo
  • For bigger kids - WeeHoo or tagalong (our favorite is the Burley Piccolo for it's stability)
  • Leave the trailer or tagalong at school if the parents split drop-off/pick-ups, as long as you have access to them from the after school program
  • Cargo bike if both parents can share it or if only one person is doing both pick-up/drop-off (they're expensive and pretty specialized, so not often worth buying two of them)

Gear hauling:
  • Trailers are great for carrying gear and keeping them dry (button down the rain cover for the kid of course)
  • Waterproof panniers on the adult’s bike to carry backpacks
    • This is important when the backpacks don't fit under reflective vests (or if the backpacks aren't reflective) and also to keep them dry in the rain

Other references for good tips on bicycle commuting in the winter:
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Original version: 12/8/2019

Bike touring with kids

Bike touring can be a really fun way to explore new places with kids, including small kids. Our biggest concern was to find a place with bike paths or roads that we felt were safe enough to take kids on for longer distances. Ideally we wanted a place where we could go camping as well. ​​
Since we were visiting family in Europe, we decided to try bike camping in France, which is famous for bike camping on the canals. We spent 10 days bike camping in Brittany, with a 3 year old and a 6 year old and all four of us had an amazing trip. I don’t know of places to do this in the US, so I would love suggestions if there are good places to do it closer to home. ​​

​Here are our tips on how to go bike camping with kids:

First, figure out the kids transportation method:
  • For small kids or babies, trailers work well
    • We used a Burley trailer, but there are other manufacturers
    • As a bonus, trailers also can fit a bunch of gear in them
  • For bigger kids, use a tagalong
    • We used a Burley tagalong - I find it much more stable than the tagalongs that attach to the seat post, such as a Novara one
    • Consider putting a gear rack on the tagalong - the one we rented had that and we put the bulky mattresses there
    • Some of our friends really like the Weehoo, which also fits smaller kids than the regular tagalongs and also has gear storage
This is the tagalong we used that had a rack on it, and carried the mattresses there.

Next, figure out where to go:
  • Somewhere with safe biking paths - so not lots of fast cars around with no shoulder on the road
  • Somewhere with flexible camping or hostel/hotel options in case you don’t make it al the way somewhere
  • Go somewhere with good activities along the way
    • Look for places with water play, playgrounds, good rest stops
  • Consider the biking strength of the kids and adults with the gear and look for something within your capabilities for distance and hilliness
Finally, figure out gear:
  • For camping and especially longer trips, lightweight is key since you’re bringing the kids (tent, sleeping bag, mattress, water purifier)
  • Lighting if you will be going after dark
  • Clothing
    • For kids biking, consider kids bike shorts like these
    • You can also get kids jerseys, but we just used quick-dry shirts that we already had for hiking
    • For all clothes we went with quick dry items so that we could do fast laundry at the campsite
  • Make sure you have the right sort of tires for your bike (smooth or knobby)

Extra considerations for trips far from home:
  • Look at gear rental costs vs shipping or checking bags on the plane
  • Bring key items with you (helmets, bike shoes/gloves, repair kit)
  • Plan how you will do laundry

Details of our trip:
  • We rented all our bikes and camping gear from Breton Bikes
  • We did a 10 day trip using an itinerary that was provided by Breton Bikes based on the ages of our kids and our abilities
  • The route was relatively flat, very safe (mostly on canals, not many cars on the roads), and had lots of good campgrounds 
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Original version: 12/1/2019