Calling all mountian bikers and cyclists!

[chapsmum]

I love moutain bikin and want to chat about it anyone for joining me?????

Not that I dont find mtb xciting, i do but i think its the fluidity of road cycling that appeals to me more, although we have been doing alot of cyclox this winter which kindof combines both.
As for baby seat and trailers at first we had the baby seat from halfords (the £60 one) and ds was in that until he was about 2.5-3 then we bought a tag along bike just like this one cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7182738289&category=64648
I still use the tag along on the mtb but am investing now in a kiddyback tandem road bike so that he and I can go out cycling together on longer rides.

we have the Thorn childback tandem, if you want any feedback. I quite like it.

Nickie, cyclox (sound exciting!) do tell me more....
DS not quite old enough for tandem yet, though sometimes I fell the need for one!!!

I'm a mountain and road biker (triathlon).

This year we are planning to buy a trailer for the mountain bikes so please keep your advice adn experience coming about the trailers, when I have time I'll read the thread more carefully.

mszebra - are you in Norwich?

I'm a serious cycle addict too and have been for years. Cycle to work everyday rain or shine. Am hoping to get out and about alot more this summer with the kids now as dd is now 2. She has got a child seat on the back of dp's bike which she loves. We have a pull along which we used when dss was little so will have that for dd when she is older.

I love mountain biking and off roading too but atm the most off roading I get is across Wimbledon Common twice a day. Bit too flat for serious fun

In terms of children and cycling, we have the most fantastic bicycle called a bakfiet. It is dutch 2 wheeled bicycle which has a big wooden box on the front where your children can sit in it. We use if for the school run and shopping and we love it! I can chat to the girls (or tell them off!) and it is less crowded than we found the trailer, and it fits through our front door. We are in flat London though - don't know if I would recommend it for hilly Cumbria. It is good too because you can have a toddler sitting in, and a baby in a car seat. You can check them out here:
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I am a re-born leasure cyclist. Was brilliant living in Denmark where cycling conditions are perfect (thousands of cycle paths, flat country, cyclists are king of the road). I used to cycle about 30km a day to work and back rain or shine. Had a little seat on the back of the bike for DS which he loved and where he would either sing his little heart out or fall asleep. We packed the bikes on the car one year and went off ot the Alsace in France for a couple of weeks...then I moved to Venice and had to sell the bike as there are no roads there. Now however, in Brasilia, I have just got my new bike (2 weeks ago) and am back on the road doging the traffice during the week but on Sundays the main roads are closed to traffic and everyone is out on their bikes, rollerskates ect. It's brilliant, a double 3 lane motor way which runs for about 25km just for us!

Ooh great thread. Another roadie here. Use it for my commute for work and just for the sheer hell of it when I've got a few hours to spare. Nothing quite like it!

DH is a triathlete- we're in Norfolk (Norwich) too. Most of his days off are devoted to 'ooh just going for a half marathon run' or 'I'm going to cycle 80 miles in one go, see you in a few hours'. I'm quite a keen amateur photographer (35mm SLR) too so this season I'm going to try and get out and take some pics of him competing. Only concern really is that we're ttc and apart from having no time to do so (!), nothing's happening after lots of trying. Not sure of the negative effects of mass road cycling on fertility!

Is anybody else really excited about this year's Tour de France? Starting in London, stage in Kent!

We drove up (lazy huh?) Mount Ventoux last year and DH really wants to go back and cycle it. In fact I think he'd secretly like to cycle most of the Tour stages. I'm not a bad climber and the sense of achievement would be great but it took us about an hour and a half in the car and the idea fills me with dread.

That's a bl**dy steep and windy hill, LOL.

Oh, and thanks msz for trailer info... Really enjoyed your / dh's Web site too !

Very pleased to meet you all. I have to confess to being a hard core mountain biker. Although since having ds 6 months ago I have completely lost my bottle?? has anyone else had this problem, should I hang up my x country bike and suspension in favour of carbon fibre and lycra or carry on cautiously and wait for the fear to go away????

Chapsmum - I cycle to work every day in Glasgow

I'm a "roadie" though - never been off-road.

I come from a cycling family. My parents (mum 65, dad 69) are off to Vietnam and Cambodia on Thursday for a cycling holiday. And last November, they were in Urugay cycling (at least they were until my Mum broke her elbow falling off her bike).

When we were wee, we used to go to Tiree on holiday, with 4 bikes on the roof of a Renault 4 (in the days of the old Claymore - the car had to be lifted on and off the boat). We were known as the (mad) "cycling family" . Cycling into the teeth of a Force 9 gale, aged about 9 is one of my many memories of those holidays!

I'm really proud of ds (5). He's been riding without stablisers since before his 5th birthday - but at the weekned he made the step forward of pushing himself off and realising that sometimes you need to put extra pressure on to the pedals (he's used to a "Like-a-Byke", which in comparison requires very little effort).

Now that he is self sufficient, we can now think of going and doing some easy trips with him - paybe a wee bit of the Loch Lomond cycle path (with a pub lunch as a reward - chips for ds! )

chapsmum - I am also a snowboarder and it didn't feel quite the same this year as pre-ds (11months). It will come back in time I'm sure.

Leogaela -- I'm in North Norfolk. Pretty close to Norwich.
I didn't know about the london stage of the TdF, Kleggie. DH & I have been to a couple of tours, it's fantastic fun.

mzebra, I was brought up in Norfolk, (lots of family still live there), I still get excited when I 'meet' people from Norfolk.
I live in Switzerland now, we do real mountain biking here !

prettybird, am in glasgow to, live next to the cycle path actually.
Was going to do a few trips out to balloch with the chap on the back, just need to wait till his head fits a helmet...
leogaelathanks for the advice, I am a snowboarder too. Me and dp are looking for a honeymoon location where we can do some proper mountain bikeng OR snowboarkding, whats it like where you are???

Is that the cycle path on the canal or on the river?

I'm in Pollokshields, so I cross the river on Bells Bridge and go through the covered walkway over the Expressway to get to work (near Charing Cross).

We have cycled across to Milngavie to my parents with ds on the back of the bike: the poor mite was asleep we we got there, but we subesequently found out he was harbouring an ear infection.

However, at 5 he is now too big for the child seat. My bike is set up to take a version of the "tag along", where we can connect his bike to mine with a metal rod and his front wheel is lifted off, so he can either help with a wee bit of effort at cycling, or just be dragged along. He wasn't keen on it the once we tried it (or rather, my dad did), but maybe now he is more confident, we could give it another go. It would mean that we could go for longer cycle rides with the "back-up" that once he got tired, he could be connected to my bike and could get back to our start point.

I do like the idea of the connector between the bikes cos then they have a bit of both worlds. we bought a hamex sleepy chair for dd as it reclines but she still doesnt look to comfy in it when shes asleep tbh. I love those bikes with the seats on the front but they are well out of our price range now. Irony is we could prob have afforded one pre kids

Am on the clyde pretty bird.
have a suggestion for trying out the ride along without having the seat! You can leave the car at any of the train stations in the west end on a sunday. Then take the cycle path out to balloch, there are various places you can stop for lunch and get the train back if your wee chap gets too tiered!

Christiania Bikes with their boxes look fab ! Am sure kids would go mad for them !

hub2dee they look amazing, what are they like to steer!?!

Absolutely no idea. I read a few testimonials, and people seem to like them (though, of course, I doubt they'd publish the bad ones, LOL). Apparently the box steering bracket is very well engineered so the balance / turn / pivot is all v. nice. 3 / 7 / 21 gears at the back and it looks like fun !

Absolutely none on ebay is probably an awesome sign !

Hmm perhaps we could recruit some mums from the arts and crafts thread to make us one!!

There are two secondhand Christiania's on the velorution website that I mentioned earlier, hub. If you are London way, the Velorution shop on Great Titchfield street sells them or rents them for a week if you want to have a go. Alternatively, I am happy to let anyone have a go with my 2 wheeled bakfiet if they want to come my way (near Liverpool Street in London).