Cycling: need to get my mojo back... help please

[asicsgirl]

when ds1 was little he sat in seat on back of dp's bike. now 3, he loves being on back of tandem.

now ds2 is here and expectation is i will take him on back of my bike. i used to (road) cycle quite a bit before dcs arrived, tho' not as metal-head as dp. but haven't been out on bike since i was pg with ds1. we used to go on great cycling hols and have fantasy of doing this as a family.

but... i feel terrified of taking ds2 on bike we live in v hilly area which never used to be a prob but there is little in the way of flattish quiet roads for me to practise with him and i'm worried my bike handling skills aren't up to it most accidents i used to have just involved me and the kerb, or just fouling up gear change and falling off, etc

ds2 only 3mths atm so i have time to prepare... if i knew how to! anyone got any tips?

It looks fabulous - & I bet you will find that when (if) you don't need it any more it will be very easy to sell 2nd hand for very near what you paid for it. I hope you have some lovely holidays

bloss that tandem looks great!

Just got back from hols where loads of us with different aged kids took bikes out riding every day. I am a fairly confident cyclist and am happiest pulling a trailer, I am able to pull it with two children in (a two and a three year old) it's a good work out on the legs! I would suggest practise on tracks/very quiet roads to get confidence and gauge extra width of trailer. Trailer can be used with kids up to 6 years. Have you tried a tail gater (think thats how its spelt!) Basically a bar which attaches child's bike to your bike. I've seen a very confident three and a half year old riding like this.

Hi All.
thanks for all the really helpful suggestions. I was inspired to take ds1 out on my bike yesterday. (He was in a rear seat). I nearly ended up coming home after 2 mins as I couldn't get the balance to work and was scared **less most of the time. It was a complete nightmare. Then it occured to me to tell ds1 not to wobble about and it was all fine from then .

I also had a long chat with some really helpful people in a bike shop and I now think that the only affordable option that will allow me to take both ds1 (3) and ds2 (1) out is to get a trailor. I know that in theory it is possible to have them both on seats but after the balance problems I had yesterday I think this is unrealistic.

Any suggestions for cheapish trailors?

ta

Sorry for the hijack. Asicsgirl - do you know where you got the toddler seat for the tandem from? We have a now very neglected tandem, but getting somehting like that would mean we could bring it back into use much sooner than expected! Thanks.

No suggestions for getting your mojo back though. What did it for me was not being able to drive and missing out on a lot of stuff!

hi fiendish. the toddler seat is part of a 'child stoker kit' from precision tandems in the states. their website is a bit hard to navigate - click 'bicycle parts catalog' then 'child stoker' from the list on the LHS. dp got lots of advice from them on how to fit it etc, he says the service was excellent - tho' of course you have to pay postage from the US which is a bit £££. i don't think anyone in the uk does these seats tho' (recommended for kids under 3.5yrs).

good luck getting the tandem back into service!

I much preferred a trailer to rear seat when dd was little - I couldn't use a front-mounted one for her cos she was so tall that by the time I discovered them I couldn't see over her the top of her head! The trailer was heavy, but didn't alter the bike's balance in quite the same way as the seat so felt much safer

But where we really came into our own was when we got a tagalong - dd loves it, she pretends it's her pony and she especially loves going fast over speed bumps - I can tell when she stops peddling as it makes a huge difference, esp up hills - I'm not sure of the make as we got it second-hand, but it's one of the ones which attach to the pannier rack rather than seat post - dd's been using it since she was 3, but she's exceptionally tall and a bit of a cycling prodigy so I'm not sure how old a more normal sized child would need to be ...

Just wondering if you can get your bike to an off-road cycle path or park to practise?

Try your local govt. website (ours has some really helpful cycling stuff) and sustrans
www.sustrans.org.uk

We are just starting to cycle as a family - now that we can't keep up with DD on foot - I'd not been on a bike for about 20 years and DH for nearly 40, he never even had a bike with gears! So he had his first try out in a park and, well its proverbial that you never forget how to ride a bike, seems to be true! but it will be a long time (if ever) before he or DD will want to go anywhere near traffic. Luckily we have quite a lot of good cycle paths in our area (canal towpaths etc).

I have a trailer for DD4.3 and DS18mths. It's pretty cosy so they're definitely warm enough. I reckon DD would fit in it til she's 5 at least, although I hope she'll be on a tagalong by then.

You can easily hear if they're happy whinging, even with the raincover pulled down. They do seem to quite like it for journeys of max 2hrs.

Pulling it up hills is tough but great exercise

We have the Burley D'Lite - not cheap at around £375, but v well built and pretty light.