FLCC> Sunday family ride & new FLCC family email list

Sat May 3 09:11:12 EDT 2008

Hello cyclists,

If water is not actually falling from the sky shortly before 10 tomorrow 
(Sunday) morning, then I at at least a couple of others will be up near 
French Lavender (903 Mitchell St) at 10:00 am to ride up and down the 
flat bit of East Hill Rec Path with small to medium children who are 
riding their own bikes.

Also, we now have our own family cycling list - see 
http://icycle.org/mailman/listinfo/familybike_icycle.org to sign up!
This might be good to forward to non-cycling minded friends and 
neighbors who might be interested in family rides but not the rest of 
FLCC stuff. I'm thinking that from now on we'd announce these kiddie 
rides only on the family list (so please sign up if that is interesting 
to you and your family) but also include the adult or teen powered road 
rides on the main list too.

While we've been talking about alternating between kiddie and 
adult-powered family rides, I think there are really three kinds of 
family rides - a) the one we did the first week where 7-10 year olds 
powered their own way for most or all of the ride on a mostly off-street 
loop and adults powered for little ones, b) the one we did last week 
with all tandems/triples/trailers, and c) the one we'll do tomorrow with 
people like my 3-year-old riding her own bike. Until and unless our 
group gets big enough to do more than one in a week, I'm thinking we 
could cycle through (so to speak) these three options. So, tomorrow, 
ride C and next Sunday ride A?

And finally, when I forwarded this new listserve option to a recreation 
email list, someone asked for a Sunday afternoon ride for after church. 
As I responded then, all you need to do is name a time and place 
convenient to you, and people will show up! (And bring a neighbor just 
be be sure you have a group ride to keep the kids entertained.)

Christine

Christine Porter wrote:
> We had another perfect day for family riding, this time with all kids 
> supported partly or fully by adult power for a longer ride.  Like last 
> time, we had 7 adults and 8 kids, and (speaking of carriers) in just 
> about every possible combination - one bike seat, three tandems, a 
> triple (!), a Burley trailer and a Chariot trailer. (more on ways of 
> biking with kids/babies below)
>
> We took the east hill hill rec way to game farm, a moment on 366 to 
> Forest home, to campus and then a subset of us took a nice Cayuga 
> Heights loop.
>
> Next Sunday at 10:00, weather permitting, it's pure kid power. I'll be 
> running or biking beside our 3.5 year old up and down the flat bit of 
> East Hill Rec path on her own little bike. If someone is willing to 
> lead a longer loop (something like we did last week) for older kids on 
> their own bikes, please let me or list know before Sunday. But at a 
> minimum, we'll be riding the path.
>
> --------------------------------------
> As for child carriers, you can start the earliest with a Chariot and 
> the extra toddler insert (not the infant sling) , as Felix said. Our 
> less than 8-month-old slept through most of our hour-and-a-half ride 
> this morning, body and head fully supported. They will fall asleep 
> (you hope) when you ride, so that insert (which I hear other carriers 
> don't offer) is worth alot. The suspension is also wonderful on our 
> roads. You can also (for more $$ for more parts) convert it for 
> jogging and X-skiing, or into a regular if somewhat wide stroller. You 
> also need to install a special axle on any bike you want to use to 
> pull it. The advantage of the Burley is that it hooks to your frame 
> and is (much?) lighter. But it doesn't have an insert for younger 
> ones, I hear, and is only good for biking.
>
> Felix (my husband) didn't want to comment on safety. But when (due to 
> pilot error - no cars involved, thank goodness) Isabel did a roll in 
> the Chariot last summer and ended up upside down, I began to love the 
> Chariot even more as she hung there, held in as if in a car seat, 
> complaining that she was upside down. Not a scratch or bruise to 
> anything but the chariot cloth. (Though Felix's skin didn't look so 
> good and I, who saw the whole thing riding behind them, had a few 
> moments of stark terror.) Personally, I like them being (somewhat) 
> protected in a metal cage and having no height to fall from. I also 
> find that as much as I fear  the trailer being hit, we stand out 
> enough that I get a much wider berth from cars than if on my own.
>
> For older kids, if you are rich or committed enough to get a tandem 
> and convert it for short legs, nothing can beat that. Short of a 
> tandem, Felix was telling others this morning that most trail-a-bikes, 
> which attach to the seat post, are very unstable. But a brand that 
> attaches to a rack (e.g., Burley, though they went out of business, 
> some of their kid stuff has been picked up by another firm I gather) 
> is more stable.
>
> Christine
>
>
>
>
>
> Hobit Lafaye wrote:
>> Hi all,
>> Someone made the wise suggestion of including distance/speed info for 
>> the Sunday family ride.  For the weeks such as this one that all the 
>> kids will be on tandems or trailers, I'm guessing we'll do maybe 8-10 
>> miles over the least hilly route possible at average speeds around 
>> 10-12 mph (Christine and other captains - feel free to make another 
>> suggestion).  There will not be any drops and exact speed/distance 
>> will be determined by who shows up and what they want to do.  On the 
>> alternate weeks when some of the kids are on their own bikes, we'll 
>> ride for about an hour, mostly on the recreation trail with speed 
>> dictated by the slowest kid.  The little guys with training wheels 
>> will obviously stick to the rec trail and go slower and shorter, with 
>> parents probably walking.  The whole idea is to help promote cycling 
>> in the community, get people out riding together and have fun; what 
>> it ends up being will be determined by the people who get involved 
>> and participate.
>> Cheers,
>> Hobit
>>  
>>  
>>
>>
>> Hobit Lafaye
>> Health and Fitness Educator
>> Tompkins Cortland Community College
>> 607.592.8870
>>
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>
> -- 
> -------
> Christine Porter
>
> http://myprofile.cos.com/c_porter
> cp226 at cornell.edu
> 1-607-272-7330
>   
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>
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-- 
-------
Christine Porter

http://myprofile.cos.com/c_porter
cp226 at cornell.edu
1-607-272-7330

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