18 years of cycling with kids
As my eldest son turns 18, I decided to reflect on the past 18 years of cycling with my kids in Worcester.
Childless woman - jump on bike, off you go. Maybe think about whether your skirt will be a bit revealing in the wind or if you should bring a coat.
2006/07
Pregnancy - Discuss with midwife if ok to carry on cycling, she says it should be fine for as long I'm comfortable. I cycle until about 8 months.
2007
Baby is born, life is turned upside down. Barely get a chance to go on a bike ride on my own. Pretty lonely being a first time mum in a city I only moved to a year ago and that I don't work in. Start thinking about cycling again when I return to work in Birmingham after 6 months, start feeling more like myself again. And baby gets a cycling helmet for Christmas. Get a rear mounted bike seat and fit to dad's bike. Baby starts sitting at about 9 months and we start going on short trips at weekends with baby on the back in Spring. He loves it and we go on longer trips, often ending with baby nodding off against dad's back.
Cycling in Worcester Woods circa 2013.
2009
My very local childminder decides to retire and toddler starts at a new childminder in the Arboretum. I'm now working in Malvern and try taking him on the bus before catching the train, but it's unreliable and standing waiting for a bus in the rain gets unpleasant very quickly. I get a second fitment for the bike seat and start cycling to the childminder with my son on the back. We do this in all weathers; he has a fleece liner under his helmet for winter and a hi-vis poncho for the rain. I see other mums with their baby on board stickers in their cars and occasionally get told I'm irresponsible for cycling on the road with a child, but mostly get given a wider berth by drivers than when I'm alone. My son learns to signal on turns.
For his second birthday, we give my son a wooden balance bike. It doesn't get a lot of use at first but we take it with us on flat walks such as in the Forest of Dean (as well as the buggy) and he gradually gets the hang of it. I deliberately got him a balance bike before a scooter as I could see it would be harder to master but more useful in the long term.
Shortly after my son's second birthday, I become pregnant with my second child. I carry on cycling as long as possible but get a chest infection at 6 months and don't restart afterwards. I'm back to using the bus for journeys to and from the childminder but stop work at 36 weeks planning to have a rest before baby no 2 arrives. I'm working 5 days per week, with maybe 2 days at home in a month if there's a good enough reason. Baby arrives on the 2nd day of my maternity leave.
2010
I have a year off work this time and get out with the kids almost every day as we go mad stuck indoors. My eldest son (now 3) loves his balance bike and I do my best to keep up with baby in a sling and later in a buggy. I have to learn to trust that he has control of the bike, and teach him to wait for me to catch up at key points. We walk / ride along the river and canal, visit playgrounds all over the city and take picnics with us. By the end of the year, he can ride a proper bike. His first bike is a blue Isla 16''. He's getting faster and more confident and we try short rides with him on his bike and me on mine. But the lack of infrastructure limits our options of where it feels safe to ride with him.
2011
He's too big for the child seat now and his little brother needs it, so we get a tag-a-long. I take baby on the back of mine and he is attached to dad's bike and we have a couple more years of bike rides out to Pershore and the Suckley Hills. Riding a bike with a tag a long is really hard work, especially as he doesn't generally pedal!
When I go back to work both boys go to a nursery about a mile away. I cycle with baby on the back and my eldest is on his bike. There's another family with slightly older kids at the same nursery and later primary school who show me that it’s possible to cycle with kids. I mostly just cycle to the station and take the train, but occasionally cycle back from Malvern through the back lanes, which is a great way to finish the week.
2012
My youngest sees his brother riding and is keen to get started. He masters the balance bike really quickly. Once they are both on their own bikes, we start taking bikes with us on walks and they cycle while we walk. The Wyre Forest is a great location for this. We don't have any way of carrying our own bikes and so give up on family bike rides for several years.
If I'm looking after both boys in the school holidays I will generally walk while they cycle, with occasional sprints to catch up. I'm very fit but one day I realise I can no longer keep up and need to start cycling with them.
On the canal by the Commandery age 4 or 5.
Cycling on roads with kids
Up to this point, the kids and I were both on the pavement. Now this becomes tricky. I try cycling alongside them on the road and cycling on the pavement myself. But junctions are tricky and of course I get grief for cycling on the pavement. I choose longer off road routes like going through St. Peter's and along the river rather than the direct route into town and my kids learn to cycle up Red Hill Lane without dismounting. The eldest has progressed to his first bike with gears.
Gradually I start cycling more on the roads, at first with only one child. I have the child in front of me and am constantly shouting directions - not so close to the cars, move closer to the kerb, signal, stop at the roundabout. I ride slightly further out to block any cars trying to overtake and we take side streets not main roads.
We've only got one car and it's mostly in Bristol with dad's work so walking, buses and cycling are our only means of transport on weekdays. I'm working 4 days per week by now. This means after school activities have to be extremely close or aren't practical. So it’s Beavers / Cubs once a week and swimming lessons at the weekends, as a cycle ride to Lower Wick or Perdiswell and back after school is too much to contemplate doing all year round in all weathers.
By 2019 we've added riding lessons in Northwick to our Saturday activities. We could drive there but I choose to cycle so I get some exercise too so I cycle there with my eldest. My youngest cycles to Lower Wick swimming pool through St. Peter's for a lesson with his dad and we meet him there afterwards. That's a 20 km round trip for me and my eldest. At the age of 12, my son knows the way to Northwick and Lower Wick independently and sometimes does go ahead on the way back when his brother is being 'too slow'.
Unfortunately Covid means Northwick stops doing riding lessons and this reduces his opportunities for independence. The alternative stables in Callow End is really too far to cycle (although we do make it on a bike to the Maize Maze in Powick one summer!)
Doing the elephant trail by bike in 2021.
Teenage years - 2021 onwards
We buy a new car with a tow-bar and do some family cycle rides a bit further afield: Wyre Forest, Forest of Dean, Bredon Hill.
As activities restart after Covid, I encourage my eldest son to take himself on his own. He cycles to climbing at Redpoint for their kids club on a Saturday morning which works great until they ask where his supervising adult is!
He starts cycling into town on his own too and when I'm with him wants to take the direct quick route, not the safer more scenic route. He gets annoyed when I give him advice on cycling technique. More recently, he takes his bike to try and go to random places he's found on the map (Churchill??) just because he can. I've no idea where he is as he turned tracking off on his phone when he turned 16, but luckily he gets home just before me. I just have to trust he'll be OK and has picked up enough road sense.
My youngest son has recently 'discovered' the pump track (he wasn't keen when I suggested it 6 months ago) and has taken himself most days we've been at home this summer. He struggles a lot in social situations but seems to be fine there and it has been a big boost to his confidence. He's not yet confident enough to ride on the roads alone but we ride on them together and I know one day I'll have to trust him to do this. He missed out on Bikeability because of Covid, so I might see if I can get him some extra training.
I miss the bike rides along the canal with two little boys on bikes but am proud to have given them a lifelong skill and the normalisation of cycling as a means of transport.
Cycling home from judo along the canal (summer route only unfortunately).
Cycling back towards Worcester along a bridleway.
What’s changed?
So what has changed in those 18 years? The choice of kids bikes has improved massively, in 2009 there was really only Isla Bikes that had been specially designed for kids. Frog Bikes became available a few years later and other brands have joined since then. A few bridges have been built in Worcester and on its edges, increasing the options for cycle rides without roads or to cross over the dual carriageways.
The infrastructure within the city hasn't really improved unfortunately, with car-free options in the centre limited to the canal and riverside and a few unconnected sections that go nowhere useful. I lived in Germany for a few years before moving to Worcester and the cycling infrastructure was so much better even twenty years ago. Due to the lack of safe, low / no traffic routes, we still drive short distances in winter rather than cycle as the summer routes are too dark, muddy or flooded.
Unfortunately, one of our favourite routes for us to walk and kids to cycle, down to the Camp Inn along the river side, has become less accessible over the years as the path hasn't been maintained properly (No Cycling signs are now up north of Ferry Bank, and officially the Severn Way is now closed north of Kepax Bridge). My teenage children are more than happy to walk this distance now, but it seems a shame for families with younger kids not to have this option.
We were not aware of any kind of cycling community when our kids were little although I joined Cycling UK and attended an AGM. Since then Bike Worcester has started, which I joined very early on. Although my kids are a bit too old for both Bike Buses and Kidical Mass, I've been happy to be a regular volunteer and my kids have both enjoyed being honorary adults when they are free to help out on a Bike Bus. The cycling families of Worcester have much more opportunities to meet each other and share experiences than we did, which is great.
