Anyone done the C2C (coast to coast) bike ride with children?

[overmydeadbody]

We are thinking of doing this in May with DS who will be 10 then, and just wondered what others' experiences of it was?

Any tips, experiences, memories etc?

How much training do I need to get DS doing before? Every weekend we go for one long bike ride, of about 20 miles but we are planning on increasing this, and also planing a few weekend bike rides, where we cycle long distances both days.

[lljkk]

How many days do you want to do it over, what bike will he have? Which route will you take, how far is it? How much climbing / off road involved?

[overmydeadbody]

lljkk thanks for responding!

I am still researching the logistics, think we will stick to the proper C2C route, which is cycle paths and country lanes, but no offroad as such.

We're thinking five days to do it.

Some days there will be a lot of hills, so we will aim to cover less miles and just work on getting up .

His bike is pretty good really, a Jamis, he uses it every day and has cycled from a young age so he is familiar with it in that sense. DP has a good bike, it is only me who will need to buy a good bike for it as my bike at the moment is 16 years old and has no gears as they rusted off, and it's heavy and clunky and old (but I use it every day as a runaround bike)

DP has his heart set on having panniers and taking everything with us, rather than using the companies who take your bags to your next stop for you, and I would prefer this too, as then we can stop wherever we like, we can take things at our own pace etc.

Have you done it or other cycling tours?

[lljkk]

I hadn't heard of Jamis before, thanks for the info.

Not done c2c. I've done 3 week tours in Iceland (camping) & Ireland (hostels), used flights+trains+bike (camping) in Poland, too.

I'm reading c2c suggests 220 miles, so over 5 days is 44m/day, should be fine if he's normally plucky. I think if you could build up to regular 1-2x25 mile rides on preceding 4 weekend then you'll be fine, assuming he does other bits of activity/sport in the week too.

Last summer 12yo DS went with DH to watch the TdF in person; they did 50 miles/day over the week. Up and down the Pyrennes :). I can't remember anything but a bit of weekend training beforehand for DS, and he was soaring away from DH at times while in France (DH does 35 miles every weekday). They were in hotels, DH carried all the panniers, but sounds like your DP knows what he's doing about pannier options (?). With 3 people you'll need to carry some stuff, too.

Your DS could have a barbag for his own energy bars bits like waterproof, and 2-3 water bottle cages.