Getting your kids into road cycling...and the fear that comes along with it

[firerescuefin]

Obviously lots of have done it. I really want to (have three young boys), but have a neurotic fear that if something ever happened to them, I'd forever blame myself. Primary reason I keep my gravel/all road bike is to have something that takes them off the hard(er) surface, but I love the road...and would love to share the great parts of that with them.

Thoughts/Experiences?


Geoff

[shovelhd]

Neither of my kids took to it. My oldest son takes the Citibike every now and then.

[radsmd]

Tandem?

[jr59]

Tough call here. It's hard to live in fear of what if. BUT...I understand the fear.

No real good answers here. Sorry my friend but I wish you and yours well!

[pdmtong]

I started daughter on the road at age 9. She rode her trek kdr1000 up our benchmark climb 1300/3.3 in 45 minutes with two stops. She had the engine and the bike handling skills but what she did not have is any sense of how to act like a vehicle on the road - how to turn like a car how to judge car speeds etc.

Why should she have those skills? She was always a passenger not a driver.

I always have her ride in front of me so I can get on her wheel if I need to bark orders or help her anticipate something. And also so I don't drop her.

Descending isnt easy with calipers and small hands. We had to stop a few times down our descents because her hands hurt.

she is an accomplished single track cx and DH rider but does not yet have great asphalt descending skills even now at 16yo. I just haven't taken her enough since she would rather ride her mtb

After the trek she was on a dolce 44cm with 700c wheels. And now at 5'3" a 48cm ruby

Best advice. Ride behind your son. Keep talking where you want him to look and be placed On the road. Do not let his speed increase too much so he doesn't quickly exceed the control zone

[Hilltopperny]

I bought my daughter her first road bike at around 9 years old and stuck to paved bike trails and some side roads with minimal traffic. I did the same with my fiance when she was learning the road. Both would rather ride the mixed trails than the road, but my daughter is comfortable with the road as long as there is a large shoulder and preferably low traffic. I always ride behind them to correct any bad habits and have to be patient with their pace. I think the biggest thing is making sure they understand the rules and that they are comfortable with them. Good Luck :beer:

[mg2ride]

Under 14 y/o-
I tried to encourage them to ride with me we as often as we could. Many, Many casual rides around the neighborhood with some “real” road rides scattered in. Some they loved and some they hatted. What is fun to us is not always fun to them. Every ride was focused on having fun and developing the basic skills of the road. Much of the stuff pdmtong talked about and just talking to them as to why I ride the way I ride.

14 to 20ish (maybe later)-
Didn’t have to, but would have discouraged anything other than causal rides. Threw in a few long, destination causal rides every year but not too many on the road at any real speeds.
Thinking of my kids being involved in fast paced road rides at this age was a deal breaker for me. Not so much because the chances of a accident were all that high, but the potential consequences are unacceptable.

I allowed/encouraged my youngest to long board thru his teen years believing the lower speeds and less busy streets made it safer. At 16 he lost his best friend when he was skating home form my house one night. He still skated after that but it scared the living crap out of me every time he skated off.

ATMO, the consequences are too great and teenagers are too confident and naive.

20ish up-
I Encourage them to stay connected to it and hope they redevelop a love for it later in life like I did. They both will ride with me at least 1/2 dozen times every year. Some casual rides and some in quick pace lines.

My youngest (19 now) clearly knows the feel of freedom you get from mechanical advantage aided movement. He rowed and long boarded all thru High school. His sophomore and Jr. years in high school he skated more miles than most people on this forum rode. I think if time and life allows it, he will ride for years to come.

My oldest (22 now) never really was drawn to it but has a taste of it and is active enough that I think there is a great chance he will ride as well.

[krhea]

This is my 13yr old daughter from today's ride:

https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7403/27845476131_e61d32630b_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/JqBkW4)P6250931 (https://flic.kr/p/JqBkW4) by KRhea FrzFrmFoto (https://www.flickr.com/photos/krheapvpics/), on Flickr

Our daddy/daughter sock game is tight!!
https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7340/27920905915_188ff26f04_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/JxgWzz)P6250917 (https://flic.kr/p/JxgWzz) by KRhea FrzFrmFoto (https://www.flickr.com/photos/krheapvpics/), on Flickr

She's been in a burley trailer or on the back of a tandem since she was a tiny kid. She just graduated from "franken" tandem and is big enough to take mom's place on the "real" bike. She owns her own bike with smooth tread tires which she has ridden almost 40miles...on a rails to trails, not on the street other then in our neighborhood. Today she rode in cycling shoes/clipless pedals for the first time along with a "real" roadie helmet, new shades, gloves and cool socks. It's my thinking that she'll learn from how I ride the tandem. She knows hand signals, how to communicate loud and clear and realizes that bikes always "lose" when it come to vehicles. On today's ride we were part of my regular Sunday ride crew of very experienced riders/racers on both car free roads as well as a relatively busy 4 lane highway with a narrow "bike lane". I made it a point of telling her what I was doing, how close to follow the rider in front, call out debris, stay inside the fog line etc etc. Even though I have a bar end mirror I always ask her about "cars back" to get her involved and conscientious about safety. At one point today she said, "we're clear if we go fast daddy." To which I responded, "we're good, we're not in a hurry, we can let the car pass and then change lanes." Once the car passed she said, "daddy, that car got here really fast". I think in that moment she learned something which will lead to her being a safe or safer rider.
I think being an example for our kids in EVERYTHING we do pays huge dividends and that extends to cycling. I'm hopeful next year she'll get her first road bike, we'll practice on the local rails to trails, then lonely country roads and gradually build up her confidence as well as mine so she can literally ride anywhere I ride.
It's a process and I've been willing to take my time getting her acclimated to more "serious" riding. Every ride is either followed by or we make a mid-ride stop for ice cream or to stop and enjoy a scenic view or whatever. It's never about how far/how fast, it's just a simple "bike ride". She has her own Garmin 500 that keeps her interested and she's quick to comment on percent grade or how we're flying down a hill. It's really made the rides more enjoyable for her as she now has "her own" information source.
Buy a tandem Geoff! Let your kids learn directly from you my man and then PRAY!!!

[peanutgallery]

Me and the boy mtb and rail trail, he has expressed no interest in the road. At 15 I feel he humors me a bit about riding so I make a point of avoiding stuff that's really technical or too strenuous so it remains fun. There is a random rock garden or climb that occasionally slips in there:) He's good for a 2 hour ride if I promise pizza afterwards

[ultraman6970]

My take? my mom was always worried when i was going for training in the road, with the team or alone, even in the 2 long rides that I burned the engine and got home like 5 hours later than everybody from the team, my mom called to know, my dad one day told me that he was always worried but he knew that my skills and common sense in the street and road were keeping his sanity.

It is a tough call, you have no control over it but try to help them to be safe all the time, be aware of everything is the only thing you can pass along to your kid to be safe.

If your kids are crazy and doing crazy stuff all the time and not being responsible I would keep them away of solo rides until they change or untill they figure it out that they need to look what you do and learn from that, learn by looking in a skill that I have not seen too often here in the states between riders.

[rileystylee]

Ask Savine!

https://www.instagram.com/savinecycles/

He has quite a few kids and all seem to be out on the road:banana:

[2LeftCleats]

My daughter and 1 of my sons got themselves into cycling. Both raced and now ride for fun/fitness. Son has been hit twice by cars and daughter once. Several other racing injuries. It is frightening to get that phone call. On the other hand, they are very competent bike handlers and avoid as best they can dangerous situations. They are passionate cyclists and there are many other riskier choices out there.

[Ti Designs]

I have 32 kids, and they all go to Harvard...

Taking a new group of riders out from Cambridge scares the crap out of me, there's so much to teach every one of them, and it takes so much time. We have skills rides to work on specific skills, and I lay down the law when it comes to following traffic laws, but it still takes time. New riders focus on an area that's about one square foot out in front of them, and they ride with their fingers wrapped around the brake levers at all times, ready to take out the riders behind them at the first sign of danger. Off the cuff advice does nothing to change this, only with time will their area of focus widen and they'll learn how to relax and take their fingers off the brakes.

Just take the time to ride with them, it'll be just fine.

[malcolm]

I think to some degree it's an individual decision and probably depends on the kid as well.

I'm an older parent, 57, of a 13 y/o and 15 y/o and my oldest a girl is far more sensible than the younger boy even allowing for age. My son has some medical issues that pretty significantly limits what he can do but I still try to not limit him as much as possible.
It can be hard to not reign them in constantly. You just have to trust your judgement. I'm constantly warning my daughter and keeping myself from warning her when doing things we routinely did as kids. I was racing motocross at 7 and can't imagine my kids doing that.

More to the point. I would try and limit my kids road riding to MTU, rails to trails, bike paths and the like unless they were very aware and I was with them until maybe late high school. Even high school and college age kids just don't have the basic fear that comes with age. Maybe it's just me but as I've gotten older I'm spooked by things that I never even thought about 20-30 years ago. I still probably push the mtn bike a bit too hard for my age/ability but for some reason that doesn't really bother me.

Let them do what you are comfortable with realizing that you can never mitigate all risk and risk within reason which varies for everyone is often times a good thing.

Last but not least "It's all fun and games until someone puts an eye out"

[benb]

I can't offer much yet.. I was drafting my Dad all over town around age 10 and he just explained the rules of the road to me as we went. He had been a roadie in the 70s but never really managed to ride much one we kids arrived. He did a good job. I never had many issues, by 12 I was riding around town fine following the rules by myself. I mostly would go ride somewhere to waste my allowance on baseball cards.

I never really picked it up as a sport till I was out of college though.

My son has already traveled many hundreds of miles (maybe 1000+?) in the Burley trailer. He is only 3 and he is clearly more excited about MTB, he always wants to go in the woods and he talks about being able to go mountain biking when he figures out how to ride without training wheels/assistance. (We don't let him use training wheels) I will go with the MTB thing for a while for sure as we have lots of good stuff around to go ride on.

It's pretty heavy for a kid to just read but this book is really great and I credit it a lot with keeping me safe, I read it shortly after really starting serious riding as an adult, I know it has chapters on teaching your kids how to ride safely on the road. Interestingly roadie culture is sometimes less safe than the strategies espoused in this book. Covering your brakes in the city does not sound stupid, riding in a tight pack through busy city areas is more of a problem.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007WTNVZS/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

[Black Dog]

Tough call. I have a 10 year old and a 5 year old and they both enjoy their bikes. I started riding on the roads at 12 and by 14 I was racing. We live in an area with low traffic (out in the country) and nice enough drivers. Seems like I should just let them ride when they are older, however, the elephant in the room is distracted driving. Until texting and general cellphone use became an epidemic I would not have worried too much. Now I doubt I will encourage them to ride the roads. Distracted driving has now surpassed drunk driving in terms of fatalities, it is no joke but no is really taking it seriously, same way that DUI is not really taken seriously by the law makers and the courts. Until we get a culture shift I will be ok with my kids not taking to the roads.

[Burnette]

Rides off road and through the neighborhood are fine. Just do that for awhile.
Then, when they are old enough, let them choose for themselves.
There is no rush and if they really get into it, they'll let you know when they are ready for the road. That's the natural way to do it. It's for them, not us.

[christian]

My five year-old rides on the back of my kidback Cannondale tandem, which I got here on the forum. We avoid busy roads, but we generally ride regular road rides. After about 20 miles, I am cooked!

http://christianedstrom.com/vsalon/iPhone/Camera_Roll/IMG_4061.JPG

My seven year-old rides his own bike, and presently I keep him to neighborhood streets and the North County Trailway. He does ride on mtb trails a lot, too.

[cinco]

This parental fear can be generalized into all kinds of activities. For me it's really hard to restrain my instinct to be over-protective of my boys from the dangers of the world. I often have to be reminded that sometimes I've got to step back and let them try, and sometimes fail.
I think I'd feel more responsible and guilty if my boys got injured doing something that I wanted them to try vs. something they were self-motivated to do. I think that self-motivation is often a good indicator of readiness and maturity to try new things.
Good luck, I feel you.

Andy in Houston

[redir]

Yeah but wouldn't you feel guilty if your son was over weight and had diabetes because video games are safer?

[IFRider]

I am luck enough to live where there are plenty of options for mild/moderate offroad for the family rides. My wife and I also enjoy road rides pre-kids but are way nervous about the kids on busy local roads. Early on we got Co-motion Persicope tandems and have been able to get a good base of family road rides in. All along using the rail trail network for them to develop their own riding skills. They just graduated to "adult" mtb bikes and are riding the local streets and trails but prefer the off-road due to the scenery.

The tandems with bright tail lights (Cygolite Hotshots) seemed to get cars to swing wider than normal so I feel reasonably comfortable and we still like them for the conversation with the kids (I am sure we are on the brink of them not wanting to ride as stoker).

I am astounded by how many kids in their classes don't ride a bike anywhere, even in the neighborhood. It is to the point that I wonder about their peers health from couch surfing video games instead of getting outside ...

[benb]

I am astounded by how many kids in their classes don't ride a bike anywhere, even in the neighborhood. It is to the point that I wonder about their peers health from couch surfing video games instead of getting outside ...

It's been reported in the press that this effect is so bad the Army is finding recruits come in and they don't have the expected basic motor skills.. not talking about fitness or strength but I think they are talking about basic skills like climbing a ladder and stuff like that. Obviously they probably don't care about whether someone can ride a bike but if people can't hang from a rope or climb a ladder, etc.. than riding a bike sounds pretty hard in comparison.

[LegendRider]

It's a sorry commentary on the safety of our roads, but my son lost interest in riding and I can't say that I'm upset. (I felt *far* safer when I was a rock climber than I do as a road cyclist.)

[benb]

It's a sorry commentary on the safety of our roads, but my son lost interest in riding and I can't say that I'm upset. (I felt *far* safer when I was a rock climber than I do as a road cyclist.)

And yet rock climbing has at least 100x the fatality rate of cycling. Cycling is super safe despite how much we worry about it. The only things safer are things like walking and golfing, rock climbing is right up there with sky diving.

Heck driving the car is riskier too...

[LegendRider]

And yet rock climbing has at least 100x the fatality rate of cycling. Cycling is super safe despite how much we worry about it. The only things safer are things like walking and golfing, rock climbing is right up there with sky diving.

Heck driving the car is riskier too...

I don't know the stats for fatalities with regard to cycling and climbing, but climbing isn't nearly as dangerous as it appears if you don't do high altitude mountaineering and you don't free solo.

I was a traditional climber (placed my own gear - didn't do bolted routes) and generally felt safe, which is not to say I wasn't frequently scared! I'd read accidents in North American Mountaineering annually and most of the deaths/injuries were lack of skill or experience.

Bottom line: I've been to funerals for cyclists, but never a climber. You're experience may vary as they say.

[cinco]

Yeah but wouldn't you feel guilty if your son was over weight and had diabetes because video games are safer?

hypothetically speaking, right?

[firerescuefin]

Yeah but wouldn't you feel guilty if your son was over weight and had diabetes because video games are safer?

Pretty pathetic/judgmental response IMO.

To everyone else, genuinely appreciate your perspectives.

[benb]

I don't know the stats for fatalities with regard to cycling and climbing, but climbing isn't nearly as dangerous as it appears if you don't do high altitude mountaineering and you don't free solo.

I was a traditional climber (placed my own gear - didn't do bolted routes) and generally felt safe, which is not to say I wasn't frequently scared! I'd read accidents in North American Mountaineering annually and most of the deaths/injuries were lack of skill or experience.

Bottom line: I've been to funerals for cyclists, but never a climber. You're experience may vary as they say.

Every sport is the same. There are stupid behaviors that if avoided can really help. For cycling that's wearing a helmet, following the rules of the road, not drinking and riding, etc.. Still cycling is apparently much safer on average than climbing. For climbing it's apparently not free soloing, staying out of super high altitude, not skipping on protection to climb faster, etc..

Not trying to stop anyone from climbing, I genuinely enjoy it too although it's never really been a practical thing for me to pursue.

Incidentally I love reading books about emergencies and safety in different sports even if I don't get to participate in them.. stuff like "Death in Yosemite" or "Death in the Grand Canyon" and some of the accounts of extreme caving are fascinating to read.

Glad I never tried hang gliding.. I've always wanted to, that is apparently way worse than even sky diving.

[pdmtong]

The road biking started at 9yo because that was the age where she could fit the KDR1000 8sp sora / 24" wheels. Riding a kids mtb 20+ miles on pavement at 8mph no thanks.

Riding a small road bike on the road, as opposed to a mtb with skinny city tires was purposeful.

The hand position and body position are different from the mtb. learning how to use the flats, hoods and drops. riding on twitchy skinny tires instead of fat knobbies. learning how to grab a bottle and drink while riding.

a few times a year we will drive up to SF park at Crissy and ride over the GGB (play dodge a tourist on the span) to Tiburon and take the ferry back.

[Dead Man]

Let em ride or dont, man... not much to it.

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab6/bkb0000/IMG_11231_zpsgvesidy2.jpg

But I say, let 'em ride.

[redir]

Pretty pathetic/judgmental response IMO.

To everyone else, genuinely appreciate your perspectives.

Geesh...

I was only trying to say that there are many things that can happen to a child that you can feel guilty for, in fact pretty much anything. Road cycling is safe despite the daily news here on the forum of deaths.

Judgemental indeed.

[ofcounsel]

My 7 year old son has been riding bikes for about 2 years now. Until recently, I've limited his riding to within our cul-de-sac, some large parks, our local university and the BMX track. But about 2 weeks ago, I took him for his first venture on local, busy city streets and sidewalks (I live in a city of about 40,000).

I spent a lot of time calling out things he had to watch for and making sure to keep an eye out for cars around us. It will likely be a few years and a lot more time with him and I riding together before I'm ready to let him venture out on his own.

[ofcounsel]

Geesh...

I was only trying to say that there are many things that can happen to a child that you can feel guilty for, in fact pretty much anything. Road cycling is safe despite the daily news here on the forum of deaths.

Judgemental indeed.

Depends upon where you live, and the age of the kid. I'd rather have my kid playing video games and being overweight than risk my 7 year old riding around town without supervision and guidance.

[pdmtong]

the world has changed. I grew up riding my schwinn across town, and on weekends doing FORTY (OMG!) mile rides i n junior high with my friends. no cell phone. no helmet. now I used ot worry about my daughter crossing the major intersection near our house.

everyone on this thread worrying about their kid riding ids going to be in for an even bigger surprise when it comes time to teach same kid how to drive...and then let them drive to school.

FWIW daughter is in 7:00am rush hour in the most compressed section of silicon valley US Hwy 101 dealing with bridge traffic, google buses, freeway construction. I asked her to call me when she got to school the first day she was solo. Then I realized, I cannot ask her to call me everyday. I trained her to the point where the only thing that could improve her skills was more experience. Once I realized that, a calm came over me. the same thing happened with her and cycling years earlier.

[Louis]

Times sure have changed.

My father was more into tennis and my mother never had an athletic muscle in her body. The only time an adult had anything at all to do with my bicycling was the 30 minutes or so it took my grandfather to teach me how to ride. (by coasting down a grassy hill to get started and pedaling to keep going on the flats at the bottom)

[ntb1001]

I have 4 kids and all of them have tried road cycling to a certain degree.
My 2 older boys have raced until age 16, then have stopped...only because at that point they were not willing to train the amount needed to be successful. They still are very athletic, just not interested in racing but they still enloy riding from time to time.. (on campy of course.)
My 3rd son tried it....never really felt comfortable..so he sticks to riding his mountain bike.
My 11 year old daughter is riding and racing a but, she is liking it.
I don't know how much they will continue, but I have enjoyed the experiance with them.

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160628/298b160a8560a49a98fcb642e79840d4.jpg


And an old picture if my 18 year old...way back at age 8 or 9.
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160628/0f7524233d5798426c3759a20e2b35be.jpg

[lovethesport]

I started our 3 boys casually on Mnt. Bikes which led to racing Norba around the country. Mtn biking gave them the confidence and skill and thrill to then equally enjoy the road with out fear.
It needs to be fun first or they will not come back.

[Chris]

I think about that tragedy a few years ago where the guy and his daughter (I think) were killed by a driver on a farm road. I would never question anyone else's decision in this matter, but for me, I just can't encourage my daughters to get into something that at this point in time has become so dangerous. It's sad, when I was 15 and started cycling 30 years ago, I would be gone for hours on my bike. That freedom was amazing.

[paredown]

No kids for us, but I was thinking back to our more carefree (and safer) time to start riding on the road in Vancouver--
something like 50% fewer cars on the road
slower average speeds of drivers
more of a shared sense of 'duty of care' on the part of drivers


My best friend and I got our first 10 speeds and rode everywhere in the city at age 15-16. We had the occasional mishap, but no serious accidents.

Looking back, it is hard to imagine that our parents didn't worry, even though it was relatively more safe. I did my first long tour at 17 with my brother and a friend, started racing shortly after that. (I know my mom would never come to watch us race, so clearly she was worried sick some of the time--but she never said 'no'--just told us to be careful.)

It is easy to magnify the risks when it is your own kids, and I do think it would be more dangerous now. That said, I would encourage my kids (if I had any) to try riding, but I would be inclined to select venues that were safer to start--MUT riding, trails, closed park circuits. a little coaching on the road, and then turn them loose.

Then I would cross my fingers and say a few prayers...