Family And Cycling, What A Combo!
 

This is the way my family does it: The Tour De Pants

Nice setup! I dig that picture with the bent and the kid trailer. Where in Houston are you at?

Sverre

I'm North west, near the horse track. Hey, my sister works for HP. Leilani Poynor. by the way thanks for stopping by the site! Ritz the RoadBear.

I'm in the Spring/Klein area. I've been looking for others who pull kid trailers in this area. There are not many places to go without having to deal with traffic. I'm a full time bike commuter and have no problems dealing with traffic by myself, but with the trailer in tow I feel extremely uncomfortable getting out on streets even for short distances in light to medium traffic. I can't get out of my subdivision without hitting an arterial road (Stuebner Airline). Also, I get these looks and reactions from people like they've never seen anything like us before.....

Sverre

Great, time with family on bikes is awsome. I love riding with my family.

There is a nice paved path from Bear Creek Park all the way to Saums Road with some interesting points along the way. There are 2 or 3 small parks along the way, an old cemetery, and a small airport that you'll see a few single engine airplanes landing at.

You can park on the East side of Highway 6 (you'll see the cars parked with their bike racks) and cross Highway 6 then head west on the bike/walk/rolleblade trail for about 5 miles. You'll cross Barker-Cypress and keep going till you turn south and hit Saums Road by Mayde Creek High. I think the park's name is Cullen Park.

We rode our Trek 7200's there a few days ago on Saturday (while everyone was shopping :D ) at a very leisurely pace. There were 2 families of 4 that had a tow-along thingy with a baby in the back and at least 1 kid on a smaller bike. There were all of about 10 other people on the trail.

There is another park with a paved roadway a little more south called Terry Hershey Park. Another one in Sugarland that we discovered while GeoCaching. I've heard of the one in Memorial Park. There are probably a few good ones in the Woodlands, etc...

We're still finding these bike-/family-friendly parks so if you know of a few good ones then let us know!!

Samundsen We are sort of in the same situation. I too am full time on the bike. No way to transport to all those great trails. I mostly put on a lot of reflectors and lights, and flags, then pray up, and go for it, being as careful as possible. I think the people around where I ride have grown so accustomed to seeing me and my son that they don't even bat an eye anymore. I wave at everyone, and Especialy the ones that gun their engines and honk. More honking = a heartier wave, and a bigger smile! :)

Yeah, I've done that too. My bike and trailer are full of reflectors, lights, reflective tape etc. My latest addition is one of those large reflective triangles (got it at REI). It fit nicely on the back of the Burley.

For the next four weeks I'm alone with our 3.5 year old while my wife and 5 year old are in Montana. All we have for transport is the bike/trailer. I'm going to do a combination of working from home and bringing him with me to work. Which means taking him and the trailer on a 7 mile ride each way. Most of my commute goes through subdivisions, but I have to deal with traffic a couple of places (a short stretch of Stuebner Airline, a few minutes on old Louetta, and the worst, through the Louetta/249 intersection right by HP. I'm going to do the commute during off-peak hours (between 9am - 3pm) to hopefully reduce the amount of traffic.

I do know of a very nice park about 7-8 miles from where I live. Burroughs park is large with plenty of trails and play areas for kids. Getting there without a car is almost suicide (I hesitate to do it alone on the bike, and don't dare do it with the trailer). I'd have to go up Stuebner Airline past Hooks airport. Narrow two lane road, not an inch of shoulder, and lots of high speed traffic. At the end of this is FM2920, high speed, but with a nice, wide shoulder. After that, light traffic on rural roads.

Sverre

Hey, I have the same reflector! And I am also a member of REI. I have a photo of the back of my bike on the last page of my site. The Tour De Pants Too bad we don't live in Missoula Montana! I hear the traffic is very used to bicycles.It's supposed to be something like "Biker's Paradise". If you don't mind the noise, 249 is ok. Most of it has a really wide shoulder,and what little I do get into the road, I just use the "Pray and Wave method". My son brings his plastic six shooter and has fun "Shooting" all the cars. We have actually ridden to REI, and even to his Nana's house on occassion. (I-10 and West Belt area, mostly up Fairbanks North Houston to long point.) I usually won't ride anywhere that I don't have an inner peace about, but we've had some pretty adventurous rides. :rolleyes:

That's where my wife and kid are headed for right now, Missoula, Montana. I've been there many times, though I have never ridden a bike there. It is supposed to be very bike friendly. I wouldn't mind living there, unfortunately there are not many employment opportunities. I've checked.

I rode to REI the other day. I just rolled my bike into the store, and drew lots of stares and comments. "You RODE here? WOW". I can be pretty adventurous on my bike when I am by myself. There are not many places I won't ride (you ever tried to ride down FM1960?). However, I turn into a wuz when I'm pulling the trailer. Just something about cars flying past my relatively unprotected kid within a few feet gives me the creeps.

Sverre

OK, you got me there. I'm a lot like you in the "Fearless by myself" catagory. And yes, my riding preferences change drastically when the little man is with me. If only we could have a FULL LANE OF OUR OWN with a concrete barrior down every major street in the city. Now That would be cool!

Cool site Ritz.

I would have to say I agree with you guys about towing the trailer. I'm not a parent myself(only 15) but I take my little sisters out on rides every once in awhile and am scared to death when we ride on the street a little bit in order to get to a protected bike path. With my sisters I walk parts I normally wiz through and I stop and look at every stop sign and use the crosswalk at lights. I'm so protective of them, someone help the poor fool who goes out with them when they start dating:D

Sounds like you'll make a Fine Parent someday! Thanks for lookin' at the site. :) Pass it on, it's getting better everyday.

I've now taken my son with me to work in the trailer twice this week, going in around 10 am and returning around 3:30pm. I'm happy to say it has gone extremely well, traffic is so light during this period we've only been passed by 3-4 cars each way. Today was quite cold (for Houston), but he was nice and warm inside the trailer, even falling asleep on the way home.

Sverre

Me Too! When Michael gets cranky and won't take a nap, into the trailer he goes... within a half hour, he's comatose.

"Tune in to the next episode of the Tour De Pants, and see what kind of fun we're having!" WWW.TOURDEPANTS.COM .