Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

Would you let a 11 year old cycle on country roads?

44 replies

FirstNameSurname · 19/09/2018 11:13

DD1 will be starting secondary in September. Where we live is fairly rural. She goes to a yard 5 days a week to help with exercising the ponies and has her own. DS1 attends special school so is dropped off around 4.30. The 2 schools DD1 prefers are too far away from our home for me to collect her and drop her at the yard before DS1 arrives home. Dropping her after wouldn't give her enough time to do all her jobs especially in winter.

Only option is for her to get the bus, get off early near the yard and cycle 2 miles. (Bike will be kept at friends) Google maps has it as a 10 minute cycle, the roads have grass verges each side so visibility is good and there's only one bend. Cars can pass at a squeeze so there's enough room for cars to pass her. The road is fairly quiet and I would expect her to meet a max of 5 cars on the cycle. Road is used regularly by adult cyclists and teams of cyclists as well as being well used by horse riders. The road is a 60mph max, most cars travel at around 45 and it would be near impossible to get to 60 on that road. DD1 knows the road well and is sensible.

Would you let her do it?

OP posts:

Littlechocola · 19/09/2018 13:21

My 12 y/o does. He wears a helmet and hi viz.

TigerDroveAgain · 19/09/2018 13:24

No. Not because of her age or the distance or how good a cyclist she is but because country roads are generally too dangerous for bikes.

IdblowJonSnow · 19/09/2018 13:31

No way. Same reasons as tiger. I cycled on lots of rural roads as a teen but there is so much more traffic now. These days I only cycle off road myself.

Original poster

FirstNameSurname · 19/09/2018 13:41

Stargirl I all honesty, knowing her, she would probably stick it over the hedge, ring the yard to get them to hack out, leading her pony and hack back to ring up highways and complain after. She's quiet assertive and a problem solver. But yes there will always be potholes and I'll book her next bikeability level and check they reaffirm the need to ride defensively. She'll have her phone so she could ring a number of people for help.

Unfortunately the yard is quiet until later and the one teen comes from a different direction so she'll not have any one else to pair up with.

Christmas presents will be bike light and safety gear only, she'll be well kitted out if she does it. I'll have another chat with her and talk about the things discussed here.

OP posts:

Original poster

FirstNameSurname · 19/09/2018 13:44

I would also spend the summer holidays cycling it with her to build up knowledge and confidence (and check safety). To make sure she's as prepared as she can be.

OP posts:

PureColdWind · 19/09/2018 13:47

No way. I work in a car insurance company and you would be amazed at the amount of careless and dangerous ways so many people drive. It doesn’t matter how good a cyclist your daughter is if some boy racer comes flying down the road and hits her.

PickledChutney · 19/09/2018 13:48

Cycling 2 miles on a country lane in the dark during the winter? And how will she get the bike back from the stables to her friends each time? Ride it back? So, again, in the absolute pitch dark by then? Seems crazy to me but each to their own.

megletthesecond · 19/09/2018 13:49

No.
Cars, modern busy roads and cycles don't mix IMO. Too much of a risk to the cyclist.

Original poster

FirstNameSurname · 19/09/2018 13:51

It won't be dark on the ride out and we have a bike rack so I'll drive her back to friends to collect bag/uniform and return bike. I wouldn't let her ride it in the dark like that at all.

OP posts:

Nesssie · 19/09/2018 13:54

Yes, if you do all the things you've said you would (proper gear, training, run through all scenarios etc)

Perhaps she could give you a text to let you know she's arrived? And maybe cycle the route with her beforehand?

Mistigri · 19/09/2018 13:57

It sounds like a massive hassle on top of a long school day, in addition to the risks of riding a bike on a country road with limited passing space.

Fine in good weather and good light, but at 4.30pm on a rainy winter afternoon the light won't be good.

Note that whether she is responsible or not is not really the question here. It's whether the car drivers who pass her will be responsible. In my experience as a regular cyclist, they often won't be.

If she is keen to continue this activity, you/she should consider a nearer schools perhaps? It depends on your priorities.

excalatingtradewar · 19/09/2018 14:01

Sethis traffic in a town totally different to a country lane, you don't normally drive at 60mph around blind bends in town - I live in the country and have horses and it drives me nuts the way people drive. I am higher up on a horse and can get on to the verge in an emergency, can't really do that on a bike. Must admit I wouldn't be keen in this instance no matter how good your DD is on a bike. I have the same problem with picking up from local 'bigger' village 2 miles away, it's those last 2 miles that are the problem not the preceding 15.

SheepyFun · 19/09/2018 14:03

Another one saying defensive cycling is vital. I cycle thousands of miles a year, and have done for 20 years. I've never been hit by a moving vehicle (was doored once). Of course that's partly luck, but it's also defensive cycling. I force myself to cycle well out from the kerb, even if that keeps a driver behind me for some time. I may annoy the driver (I know I have on occasion) but I haven't been hit; pretty much no-one wants to hit a cyclist, and I'm making it harder for them to do so by accident!

SnuggyBuggy · 19/09/2018 14:05

Some will disagree but I don't think anyone should be cycling on 60 mph roads. It's too dangerous and it's about cheeky fucker to hold up a line of cars in second gear for several miles

mirandaspanda · 19/09/2018 14:22

My DS (12) cycles a mile to get a bus to school. We don't live in a village and there are no school transport options for any school without cycling into the village. He has lights and a lots of hi viz and a flashing belt. It's a stretch of straight flat road and he's home by 3:20. I take and collect him if I can but there are days when there is no option.

MotherWol · 19/09/2018 15:35

SnuggyBuggy, there are loads of tiny singletrack lanes up and down the country that are NSL roads - i.e. 60mph. That doesn't mean that it's safe to do 60 on them, just that a lower limit hasn't been applied to them. In my experience, a quiet singletrack is exactly the kind of place you should expect to see walkers, cyclists and horses - it's not like a dual carriageway. There are passing places on most of these roads so you won't be crawling along for 2 miles - more like 1/4 mile. People are legally entitled to walk, cycle and ride horses on the road - there's nothing CF about it.

OP - your post seems to have brought all the non-cyclists out of the woodwork with reading comprehension issues.

SnuggyBuggy · 19/09/2018 15:37

It just seems really dangerous to me.

SnuggyBuggy · 19/09/2018 15:40

To be fair it also seems dangerous to drive that fast on a country road, I don't get why the speed limit is that high on roads with that many bends.

nornironrock · 19/09/2018 16:04

Yes, absolutely. She sounds like a very responsible and sensible girl.

I'm a bit amused by all those pointing out how dangerous rural roads are. We only cycle on rural roads. There's no way in hell I would cycle on any of the urban roads near us. Now that would be crazy.

Agree that a decent helmet, lights and weather gear is essential as we move into autumn/winter. It will not be long before 4:30 is dark.

Flip

1 2