FLCC> Kid-powered East Hill family loop for Mother's day
Christine Porter
cp226 at cornell.edu
Thu May 8 12:49:16 EDT 2008
I promise from now on to only send these to the new family bike list.
This is a last call for FLCC people who would like family ride
announcements to sign up at
http://icycle.org/mailman/listinfo/familybike_icycle.org. (I don't
recommend the digest format, since emails might include last-minute
changes to rides. I do recommend creating a folder for each of your
email lists and creating a filter to auto-send all emails to that list
to that folder, which will indicate you have new mail it it, but let you
get to it in your own good time.)
So, this Sunday (with the usual rain restrictions), we're going to do
ride type 'a' (see below). The route starts at 10:00am at 903 Mitchell
near French Lavender.
Then we're heading to and up Honness along the east hill rec way, along
the Pine Tree Rd sidewalk to and through the back side of East Hill
Plaza, a very short bit on Pine to return to sidewalks on Maple Ave, up
and down the lower bit of east hill rec way if kids are up for it, and
back to mitchell along the rec way again. Hope to see you there!
I also have at least one parent who would like to do ride type 'c' as
well with her daughter - if you will join her, please send a reply to
the list (just to familybike at icycle.org please) and we'll call it a
group, with both A and C rides to celebrate Mom's day. That 'kiddie'
ride type went very well last weekend, with at least 10 kids riding, and
a mix of riding, walking and (often) running adults. We did just an up
and down on the path between Mitchell and Honness, but it was enough for
the adults, at least!
Christine
Christine Porter wrote:
> 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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>>> FLCC at icycle.org
>>> http://icycle.org/mailman/listinfo/flcc_icycle.org
>>>
>>
>> --
>> -------
>> Christine Porter
>>
>> http://myprofile.cos.com/c_porter
>> cp226 at cornell.edu
>> 1-607-272-7330
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> FLCC mailing list
>> FLCC at icycle.org
>> http://icycle.org/mailman/listinfo/flcc_icycle.org
>>
>
> --
> -------
> Christine Porter
>
> http://myprofile.cos.com/c_porter
> cp226 at cornell.edu
> 1-607-272-7330
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> Familybike mailing list
> Familybike at icycle.org
> http://icycle.org/mailman/listinfo/familybike_icycle.org
>
--
-------
Christine Porter
http://myprofile.cos.com/c_porter
cp226 at cornell.edu
1-607-272-7330
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