# Destination Inspirations :)



## MrJamie (17 Jul 2012)

So ive been trying to encourage my exercise-shy 9 year old nephew to cycle more and since getting a new bike with gears and much better fit hes improved dramatically which is brilliant but its changed the scope somewhat.

Previously he'd average about 6mph and we'd cycle 3-5 miles often with an icecream stop in the middle  and couldnt get up even short inclines or canal bridges. On the new bike hes averaging about 10mph and actively hunting hills to conquer, covering 5-10 miles with ease and rather than a monthly bike ride hes been out almost daily.

Ive been wondering what kinds of rides people take kids on and also what kind of distances are a reasonable expectation to build up to.


----------



## Effyb4 (17 Jul 2012)

My ten year old is quite happy to do a ride of 15 miles, with a cafe stop in the middle. He hasn't got a bike with gears yet though, because he is too scared to use them. I suspect on a slightly bigger bike with gears, he would be happy going further.


----------



## MrJamie (17 Jul 2012)

Effyb4 said:


> My ten year old is quite happy to do a ride of 15 miles, with a cafe stop in the middle. He hasn't got a bike with gears yet though, because he is too scared to use them. I suspect on a slightly bigger bike with gears, he would be happy going further.


 Thanks  15-20 is about as far as you can go here without venturing out onto NSL country lanes, which I dont think he'd enjoy and would probably be stressful for me! Also, his old bike was a single speed bmx type because we were worried about him not understanding gears, the new one is an 18 speed and I had planned to keep him in a middleish gear and just change the rear for hills (like a 6 speed), but he took to it amazingly quickly with some direction and is now using all 18 gears pretty well and its really improved his endurance and enjoyment


----------



## fossyant (18 Jul 2012)

My son of 11 would ride all day. He's racked up over 100 miles in the last month or so riding to/from school. New bike arrived a couple of months ago.

His new MTB has made an added bonus. I'd occasionally take him MTB'ing locally, but he really want's to go out again on this new one - I suspect I will get left behind on the off road downhills.

I've got another thread going about getting a scruffy secondhand bike for school - I've been told by friends about this chap in the village that sells secondhand bikes.

15-20 sounds ideal for runs. Mix in some real off road ?


----------



## I like Skol (18 Jul 2012)

fossyant said:


> ..... I suspect I will get left behind on the off road downhills.


You cannot ever allow this to happen, EVER!

My 9 year old will do a 20mile ride with a stop midway and would probably be able to do 30 if we had/took our time.


----------



## fossyant (18 Jul 2012)

I like Skol said:


> You cannot ever allow this to happen, EVER!
> 
> My 9 year old will do a 20mile ride with a stop midway and would probably be able to do 30 if we had/took our time.


 
He has decent suspension forks - I've got me old rigid MTB. He battered my brother though.


----------



## Batmancaver (12 Aug 2012)

The sky's the limit!
I think that a reasonable distance is whatever your nephew is happy to do.

We've just done this: http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/were-all-going-on-a-cycling-holiday.107373/

Prior to that we'd just do daily rides every now and then. The most we'd probably done in a day was about 20 miles. I never expected them to do three days in a row of 20+ and to then want to repeat it in reverse!
Next year we are looking into maybe doing the Sea2Sea, maybe we'll cycle there and back as well.

Keep encouraging him, keep keeping up with him and make sure he keeps enjoying it!


----------



## Andy_R (12 Aug 2012)

My 8 year old has just done 40 miles of NCN1 and we regularly do 20-30 miles along the local disused railway lines (Lanchester Valley and part of the C2C). He's using an Islabike Beinn24 with 8 gears which he demanded(!) that I change from twist shift to trigger shift (cos "twist shift is for little kids!")


----------

