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05-05-07, 02:29 PM
My wife and I want to take some cycling trips in the summer. Week-long trips, maybe a few longer ones, if possible. I can't figure out a good way to take both my daughter, who will be 18 months in summer, and our dog, a 40-pound cattle dog. We have a Burley child trailer and my daughter has been enjoying our short rides around town and trips to picnics. I have another child trailer that I have stored away, but I could place a child in it, or I could modify it to fit the dog.
If we each pulled a trailer (21 pounds or so, plus my child's weight of 21# or the dog's weight of 40#) we'd be pulling between 40-60 pounds, plus all the gear for the family and the dog. Both our bikes are touring bikes, so we can use front/rear panniers to carry stuff, and put somethings in each trailer. It seems to be that is an awfully heavy load, and discounting our bike weight and our body weight, we'd be pulling and carrying a total of 70-100 pounds.
My wife really wants to do this, which is great because I've wanted to go bike camping and stay away from driving. But I am very skeptical of being able to carry everything, never mind the additional difficulties of keeping the dog happy in the trailer. We'd run him alongside the bike everyday to exercise him and tire him out, but I've never pulled him for an extended period of time.
There is also the question about where to go. I'd simply select an off-road multi-day adventure route except my daughter is definitely not going to like being in a bumpy 2-wheel Burley trailer. We live in Southern California, and we may choose a N. CA route.
Does anyone have any advice or thoughts about this?
Dave
If we each pulled a trailer (21 pounds or so, plus my child's weight of 21# or the dog's weight of 40#) we'd be pulling between 40-60 pounds, plus all the gear for the family and the dog. Both our bikes are touring bikes, so we can use front/rear panniers to carry stuff, and put somethings in each trailer. It seems to be that is an awfully heavy load, and discounting our bike weight and our body weight, we'd be pulling and carrying a total of 70-100 pounds.
My wife really wants to do this, which is great because I've wanted to go bike camping and stay away from driving. But I am very skeptical of being able to carry everything, never mind the additional difficulties of keeping the dog happy in the trailer. We'd run him alongside the bike everyday to exercise him and tire him out, but I've never pulled him for an extended period of time.
There is also the question about where to go. I'd simply select an off-road multi-day adventure route except my daughter is definitely not going to like being in a bumpy 2-wheel Burley trailer. We live in Southern California, and we may choose a N. CA route.
Does anyone have any advice or thoughts about this?
Dave