mirage1

My daughter and I just went on a nearly four-mile bike ride. She'd been wanting to ride bikes this weekend but I couldn't quite get her motivated earlier in the day. I didn't know if she'd still have fun since we didn't start until about 11:30 (and it's almost 95 *F out) but she did great! There's a bike path not too far from our house; this time we drove there, because the only way to get there is on some very busy streets.

There were so many bunnies, chipmunks, and enormous lizards that every few feet included some new wildlife.

I'm in a great mood. It's funny how happy pedaling makes me!

Marylandnewbie

When rides with kids go well there is nothing better! Keep it up and you may be grooming a ride partner -- at least until she discovers boys

BigBlueToe

My kids used to ride with me. I used to take them on rides in the summer to the library, or to a place with big trees where we could climb up and I could read to them in the branches. What fun! The thing that killed it for us was when they got their driver's licenses!

My daughter is going away to college this year, and will be on a tight budget. She's talking about bicycling again! (And her boyfriend likes to cycle. Of course, she'll probably rather ride with him than me. But he likes me and wants to ride with me, so maybe she'll come along!)

halcpa

Good thread.

I have twin girls (age 11). Hard to to get all three of us to ride together. Went Sat with one and Sun with the other. Each ride was about 10 - 12 mi.

For some reason each ride involved shopping....hmmm.

Agree with the mood thing. Each time we, finally, got going it seemed we wanted to go further and further.

srp

Keep doing it. We do plenty of family rides although my middle daughter (14) is balking about it. Did a 15 mile ride last night.

One of the criteria for buying my house is that it has to be rideable to a bike trail so we never have to use the rack.

One key I found when the kids were younger was to get them a bike computer. Then they could see how fast they were riding and you can say, "OK, try to hold 10 mph."

40 Cent

Living in Brooklyn without a car, I've slowly indoctrinated my wife and two boys (9 and 7); We began by riding up to the park (half-mile each way) and a 3-mile loop. I then bought them new bikes (well... my kids new bikes and my wife a used road bike). That was 2 years ago. Since then, my wife has done 2 centuries with me and my boys have ventured on bike paths farther out into the city. Last summer we even went to Martha's Vineyard for the first time and took only our bikes. By the end of the week, we had pedaled the island, logging over 150 miles. My wife and I asked ourselves if this was a strange form of child abuse but our kids always asked to keep going. It was great. We're looking for another bike vacation this summer!

halcpa

I like this. Of course it means buying two of them for me.

matthew_deaner

If your experience is anything like mine, riding with your daughter will bring you closer together and will improve your relationship and your effectiveness as a parent.

I ride with my 10-year old son several times a week. We started out when he was 8 with short trips to the library; etc. We kept on riding further and further... then finally last year I decided to get him a real road bike. I found a used Giant TCR in frame size 44cm. My son has put probably 2,000 miles on that bike since late last summer. We regularly go on rides over 50-miles. He wants to start racing this year, too. Regardless of his age, you can see that he is a cyclist by his disproportionately large calves and quads and thin upper-body. My riding buddies really get a kick out of him.

It takes a lot of patience to ride with kids... I prefer to take him with me on our tandem, but for recovery rides or when I just feel like taking it easy, I love to ride with my son. It's easier to take the time to have long conversations with him when riding together, and I like it that I'm helping him get started on an activity that is likely to add years to his life. Hopefully he'll still want to ride with me when he is a teenager...

therevplague

i ride BMX with my brother (10) a whole lot. He loves riding around and seeing things that he dosent see at school. Its fun for him to ride and excercise and try to learn new tricks.