Originally Posted by
melville
Unfortunately, we're in this boat. My kids absolutely love riding, but none of it is for transportation. I have to explain to my wife that the kids need to learn that a bike ride shouldn't start with putting the bikes in the truck and driving to the rail-trail. We do have forest access in the neighborhood, but there's a steep climb to get there.
There is hope: on one of these rail-trail rides soon after getting new bikes (6yo boy has 20" 6 speed Trek, 10yo boy has Fisher hardtail) the 6yo saw someone ahead and immediately put it in high gear and chased him down! Gave him a raspberry as he passed! On our neighborhood rides they're both climbing 8% grades going to our city's forest reserve and riding 5+ miles at a shot on steep singletrack and logging roads. We did a bunch of rides while my wife was working this summer and the kids progressed so much that when she joined us for a good forest ride they both dusted her, and she's fit!
I do wonder if it is irresponsible to teach my kids to wheelie and hop 2' logs. I remember as a kid I had to do that stuff surreptitiously.
Later
Mel
Irresponsible?!? Heck no! Those are valuable
bike-handling skills. Personally, I'm trying to teach my son to hold a track stand before his fifth birthday.