Any family touring groups?

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meic
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Re: Any family touring groups?

Post by meic »

I have always found groups (and Audax) to be very happy to have my children on the rides, so long as their cycling ability is near enough to what is expected of the group. This would be the case when the youngest are being propelled by my power, not theirs alone.
I dont try and take my children to any rides where I dont know the level of performance expected.
Yma o Hyd
Tangled Metal
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Re: Any family touring groups?

Post by Tangled Metal »

We're not looking to do a fast club ride with kids on child seat. The question is about whether there's groups set up to go at the pace of families with young children in trailers, seats, tagalong, etc. Basically a a slow pace with regular stops.

Our thinking is a maximum of 1 hour riding to each break off the bike for a run and play. For example we know a few routes that lead to a nice playground with slides and climbing frames. These often have picnic tables or at least benches for the parents.

It's important to attract kids to a healthy and active lifestyle. Cycling is a very good contribution to this. It just strikes me as shortsighted to not have this aspect of it sorted. The next generation is the future of the organization. I bet there would even be government grants for this sort of thing. I know the Ramblers got ab tranche of money for promoting healthy lifestyle through walking. That was possibly before all the cuts though.
Vorpal
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Re: Any family touring groups?

Post by Vorpal »

You could try organising something in your area, and see what the reponse is. It's likely that people will turn up, and some of them may know about other rides, or be willing to organise the next one :D
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Tangled Metal
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Re: Any family touring groups?

Post by Tangled Metal »

My partner has thought of this. She's up for it. I'm not an organizer so I'm out on that. I'll support people doing it and be an enthusiastic participant but it won't work with me organizing it. We have our strengths, enthusiasm and obsessive participation are mine not organization.

Although right now she's too busy to spare enough time for such an endeavour. She'd give it a go though.
Bensons
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Re: Any family touring groups?

Post by Bensons »

I think that is a great idea. Sort of what we do really minus the playground. Ride for an hour to 90 mins for a walk around/cake/lunch.

On Monday it was 16 miles to a national trust place for lunch and a walk and back again.

The joke is that these days I am the one struggling to keep up with them on the tandem, I was done in when we got back.

A small group annual tour with kids would be fun, not sure if that sort of thing exists already but a circular route with a few nice stops each day built in could be lovely.
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meic
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Re: Any family touring groups?

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Yma o Hyd
Vorpal
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Re: Any family touring groups?

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:D Mildenhall was the same. I hope that it will be again.
“In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility.”
― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
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TrevA
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Re: Any family touring groups?

Post by TrevA »

If a local CTC group has a novices ride, they may be suitable for children. We certainly did that when our kids were young. Firstly on trailer bikes and child seats and then my son on his own bike, when he was old enough. He could cope with 20-25 miles at the age of 7.

We also went to the New Forest Rally which was good for the kids. My son went on his MTB at the age of 10 and could cope with the slower paced adult rides. My daughter was still on the trailer bike at 8. We also used to go to the York Rally, though most activities took place on the Knavesmire, they used to enjoy doing some of the shorter rides and the ride to and from the Minster.

We also used to take bikes on holidays with us. We'd often rent a cottage and do day rides. A bit easier as you can do your own thing and don't have to fit in with what the rest of a group wants to do.
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TrevA
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Re: Any family touring groups?

Post by TrevA »

On our recent holiday in Cornwall, we met a couple who were touring and camping with a young child, only about a year old. They were from Manchester and had caught the train down to Penzance and were doing a loop around the Lands End peninsular. He had a Kona Big Dummy and was towing a stroller-type trailer, which made for quite a long unit. His partner was just on a normal MTB. We met them at Portreath, just NW of Redruth and they were making their way along the north coast. We saw them again about 3 days later near St Just.
Sherwood CC and Notts CTC.
A cart horse trapped in the body of a man.
http://www.jogler2009.blogspot.com
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