[Closed] alandavidpetrie79 Jr. managed 6 miles on his own bike....

Well done, hope he keeps going.

Took my two (7 and 8) out last week and hit up some of the regular trails - 3.5hrs later they were exhausted but beaming. Lots of grumbling on the climbs!

Did he have a heart rate monitor on?
😀

Excellent by the way.

I wont take my son (4.5) for 1/2 those miles. Biking is for dossing around at that age. 3 and 4miles? You risk him tiring trying to pleaaw then being put off.

More than some forum locals could manage 😉

hora - Member

I wont take my son (4.5) for 1/2 those miles. Biking is for dossing around at that age. 3 and 4miles? You risk him tiring trying to pleaaw then being put off.

We've always just taken ours places where they can do as little or as much as they like. Often taking the longtail as a sag-wagon. It always ends up being 5-15 miles with plenty of food stops as long as it's fun (Delamere, Llandegla, etc - the dark peak is still a little brutal).

They are now 8 and 12 - recently took them to Cannock and they flew around two laps of the dog and a bit of monkey - 25k. I just follow behind while they lead the way!

Good stuff OP!

I dunno.. my 5yo has done 5 miles and still has bags of steam and smiles left at the end. As with most things, depends on the kid.

Well done, I can't wait until my youngest has a bit more stamina. He has done the Glenlivet Blue which is about 5 miles but there was a lot of pushing up the hills, and he was well knackered afterwards.

Good work little man, making your dad proud.

Thanks all (Definitely proud Dad!) 🙂

He genuinely has a love / addiction (his Mum's words) for his bike & asks nearly every day to go on it.

We regularly go out (usually with me pushing his sister in the pram) & do 4 miles without any issues & it's been like that for over a year.

The smiles on this old pic say it all:

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Even more recently covered in mud:

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Great stuff.

Kids can ride a long way if they are up for it. I no longer have to think with my 9yo how far he can ride. He'll ride all day.

You've got to give them the opportunity. A bail out plan is good (I always have short cuts in mind and have a long climbing sling for a tow), but they need that less and less as they get older. My 4 year old will do 12km (so 7 miles) fine. My 9 year old hasn't done minipips' mileage, but he'll happily do 50km on road and 30km+ off road - he's keen to do a 100km on the road now. He's definitely at the "ride all day" stage.

Unless they get the chance to do it they'll think for ages that it's "too far". That's not to say that it isn't hard - but mine have never complained after a ride and have always wanted to go again 😉

I'm not trying to be a Cassandra on this. Far from it- my lad was doing the indoor national BMX track at the velodrome when he turned 2.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/30625376@N06/8272214721/ ] - note hes still wearing a bloody bib in the vid 😀

My angle with him is to 'trick' him into loving it, having memories of it being fun and for him to have a lifelong affection for it. Hold him back alittle so he has no negative connotations.

A friend of mine who loves taking me out and ruining me (so I always fall asleep by 6pm on the day of a ride) took his young one out for a very long ride. He said since that ride the boy hasn't been near his bike since.

yep - I agree that you've got to let them be in control of the length.
Dragging them around something doesn't really work.

Delamere is perfect. Ride all day and feel like your deep in the woods, but at any time you can be back at the car in 5-10 mins.
We take 2 full picnics - lunch and tea.

The terrain matters a lot as well. 6 miles round here would be done on hilly rough/rocky/rooty tracks.

We tend to go for a slog up a hill, then a blast down some twisty rooty singletrack.

I think I've mentioned before that my 3 year olds favourite trail is the Orange at Laggan. He loves blasting down it at full speed, and the fact we get to ride up in a Landrover is the cherry on the cake... I have started "making" him do a loop of the green before we get uplift. Downhiller in the making I think!

I think Hora's got a good point. (never thought I'd write that)

We took theg1 round Landegla blue a couple of times when he was 4 and it was way too much. It gave him negative feelings about cycling for years afterwards. Took a while to get him back into the cycling's fun point of view.

I think Hora's got a good point. (never thought I'd write that)

We took theg1 round Landegla blue a couple of times when he was 4 and it was way too much. It gave him negative feelings about cycling for years afterwards. Took a while to get him back into the cycling's fun point of view.

Kids are all different, my daughter cycled with me for a few years, and now she has no interest in it. That's not because we overdid it, she'd just rather go and play with her mates.

Jonathan makes a good point for longer rides, always have a plan B and C. We've cut a lot of rides short over the years.

Some kids like riding bikes, and some don't. I love going out with my son, but if he doesn't want to come along and do something else instead that's fine also. My daughter rocks, but not on a bike. 🙂

Remember- what we love they might not. We'll get over enthusiastic about things. I've shown hora jnr football- in his second week he got the boy of the week trophy! Keep it fun, seriously cycling should be a fun thing not a lets get him downhill quickly or 4miles+. Don't try and guide them to cycling stardom where you faltered.

My mrs said 'you never know, hora jnr could be a Kayaking star but we'll never know if we don't introduce him to wide and varied hobbies that are NOT my own.

Keep it fun- 4miles+ is alot for a toddler. I couldn't care less if he could be a UCI world champ. As long as hes happy - he could be a Chess star.

Again this isn't a critism of anyone above ^ - its an observation. We can get too excited and think 'look juniors doing really well and obviously likes it'. Temper that enthusiasm. It can lead to burn out/bad memories.

There's definitely a fine (or fuzzy?) line to be drawn between keeping it fun and letting them/helping them push their boundaries. What I see is the pleasure they've got from discovering what was beyond those boundaries and realising that they could do things that they didn't think they could. I do see a lot of parents holding their kids back, telling them that they're too young or too little to do something. There's a lot to be said for letting them try and fail at things, as long as you manage the failure positively*

Obviously how you get to that point is completely different with different kids. My two couldn't be more different in attitude and I've definitely had to relearn how to do it with the little one. Interestingly he (a) takes it more seriously than the older one and (b) is probably at his very happiest when on a bike. He's always trying to push things and I find myself holding him back, and then having to tell myself off 😉

Last week the 9-year-old reluctantly admitted to me that he likes climbs now... long ones. I took that as a personal win 🙂

* sweets and a first aid kit

I agree with Hora.

We've always given them a long rope when it comes to trying out different activities.

Wrt mountain biking they aren't fans of climbing (pretty much like their father!) However, with enough encouragement they will mash their way to the top.

What never fails to amaze me every single time is the beaming smile (s) when they have just run through some really flowy singletrack, they are buzzing and want to do it again and again. The first time we rode in the wet they were squeals of delight as they hit a water bogged trail.

My older one was telling my wife as to how he is now Daddy's new biking buddy.

Hora btw, that's a really great bmx track.

Yep again Hora is right. I once took my boys out when they were little and their mother was away and just got carried away. We did 20 odd miles and they were knackered. It did put them off for a while but the oldest is now v. keen but the youngest despite having a good FS never rides it. He says he needs to get fit when me, his mates, his girlfriend all point out that the only way to get fit is to actually ride!