How long / far can your little one ride for?

Baron Greenback

Hi everyone,

My 6 y/o son is loving riding at the moment. Near our house is a trail, around an grass common area. We currently do laps around, in various directions, and cut along the grass paths that have been mown to keep it interesting. It's about 0.8 mile around, and it's 2 mins from my house, so it's easy to keep track of when it's time to go home. Tonight for example we did 4 laps, with a little break for some water.

However, our aim is to go to the forest of dean's family trail in the not too distant future. I'm a little bit concerned that if he tires out mid way round I could have a bit if a hard time nursing two bikes and a tired 6 year old back to the car?

I once saw a general rule of something like 1k per year old, however I do t remember where I saw it, and what the advise was!

How long does your little one ride for? On what terrain? I know there are so many variables, but I'd appreciate your experiences.

Thank you,

Greenback

norvernrob

Our son is 5 later this month, he learned to ride properly at the beginning of the year. We regularly go to the local country park which is pretty much flat, and he's done as far as 8 miles without complaining of being tired. He even tried to get up the little hill to the car park at the end. We did have an ice cream stop at the 5 mile point!

Ps: the terrain is roughly half tarmac, half rough stony trail.

Baron Greenback

Many thanks for the reply Rob. That's a good point about the ice cream, I'm sure I could schedule a little picnic or something half way round.

Since writing this post, I've checked with a friend if mine that rides at FoD quite regularly. It's about 9.5 miles around the family loop. But with a gentle climb to start, and a long long gentle downhill.

njd27

Our 3.5 year old has ridden distances up to 12km. This is on fairly mixed terrain, for example at Moors valley near ringwood there is everything from tarmac paved paths to sandy single-track. It's not particularly hilly and there are no gears on his Islabike anyway.

I do find he has little concept of pacing himself or his energy intake so sometimes he's just run out of steam to the point we need to have a sit down and a snack. But he's quickly back in action.

I'm sure that this would sound like child abuse to some but he really enjoys it and to be honest he's probably fitter than I am taking into account his size because he's running all day every day whereas I'm generally chained to a desk.

fat daddy

I envy all of you !!!

my 5y/o girl, cycles to the end of the road .. gets off then uses her basket on the back as an ambulance for snails ... she is just not interested in cycling, so the bike have become a glorified mini-beast ambulance and her cycling endurance is about 50m (meters)

bompington

Bompetta managed the Crinan canal towpath aged 4 - that's about 9 miles of road / gravel paths with a gentle rise to about 30m in the middle. That required regular stops, but now she's 6 she can blitz it there and back at alarming (to other users) speeds. Still needs regular feed stops though - however fit a small kid is they will literally run out of energy after every 15 minutes or so of hard activity, so pack a lot of treats.

In general I would say that 6 year olds can do almost any distance as long as there are plenty of treat stops and adults curb their impatience - hard terrain or steep hills can be a killer though.

norvernrob

oxoman wrote:

Forgot to mention Dad assist is always an option when they run out of steam or need help on an incline, remember even a small incline looks like a massive hill to young kids. Just ride at the side and push them gently either on the back of the saddle or their lower back. I have towed once during a bit of rope, but wouldn't recommend it as you tend to go a bit faster than you ought to.

I did this on a local track that is far too hilly for a 4 year old, pushed him up with a hand on his back, but the downhill on the other side was a little bit scary! We were only doing around 12mph but on his tiny Frog 43 he was going like the clappers.

What I've noticed is, because he enjoys it he's not even bothered when he falls off (trying to turn too tightly on rough surfaces is his usual mistake). He once faceplanted the floor whilst trying to wave to us from his balance bike, but after a quick cry was back on 2 minutes later and rode to the cafe for hot chocolate and cake. Bribe him with treats and he'll ride anywhere

keef66

My little one is 28 now, and I can't keep up with him anymore. If ever I need to know how long or how far he's riding I can always stalk him on Strava.

He's still crap at changing a tube though...

Tashman

Little Tashboy and Tashgirl (9 & 7) are happy to pootle up to the local rec and whizz about inall directions. I have no idea how far they travel but are happy to do this for a couple of hours. Tashboy is trying to get to grips with his gears but has a habit of just changing for changes sake, rather than because he needs them. He's on a bike and having fun tho' which i guess is the main thing

mpatts

A motivated 6 year old can ride much further than you think - 50k+ - a demotivated one 500 metres!

Keep it fun, keep it going, have regular targets and anything is achievable. Amy (9) will ride as far as you like, so long as there is a point.

Baron Greenback

Thank for all the replies everyone!

Keeping him interested, with plenty of rest stops, and incentives sounds like the way forward. I'll make sure we are well stocked with snacks and drinks.

The first time we went on a ride, I remember he was bombing along, then slammed on his brakes, to stop for some blackberries! I almost ploughed straight into him (He loves foraging for stuff!).

He's doing so well, over such a short space of time. He's only ridden this bike 4 times. He understands when to change up and down gears (He's only using 1st and 2nd at the moment. 3rd gear is a bit too fast for him, as he remains at a fairly constant pedal speed). He has learned to coast without pedalling (This was an odd concept for him). And is just about getting to grips with applying brakes to regulate speed. At the moment, he has two modes. Go, and stop.

Similar to Rob's son above, my son has a few sketchy moments, usually when turning sharply at low speed on fine gravel. Apart from that, there is the odd speed wobble when he isn't paying attention.

You can just tell at the moment, he absolutely loves the freedom, the independence, and the time away from his nearly 3 y/o brother(!) I just hope this enthusiasm continues.

Underscore

mpatts wrote:

A motivated 6 year old can ride much further than you think - 50k+ - a demotivated one 500 metres!

Keep it fun, keep it going, have regular targets and anything is achievable. Amy (9) will ride as far as you like, so long as there is a point.

This. My 6 year old (7 in November) managed the Blue route at Coed Llandegla last week - 8.2 miles with ~650ft of climb - which I put down to him having 2 cycling mad older brothers (8 and 10) to act as the hare! It is amazing what they can do at the age given a regular supply of water and jelly-babies but, if they don't want to do something, you might as well forget it...

_

Underscore

oxoman wrote:

Underscore keep it up with them, I've seen adults frequently struggle up the first bit of Llandegla so it's really good to hear of little kids doing it and enjoying it.

Yeah, it is a bit of a slog. TBH, I wouldn't say that they enjoyed that bit but they loved the rest of it enough that it was forgotten by the end!

_

Baron Greenback

Well, our first trip over to FoD was a success. Managed 3.9 miles around the family trail. A lot of it was climbing. He coped with it really well. Didn't really show any signs of tiring. The reason we cut it short was because of my uncertainty of the trail (didn't want to get stuck at the bottom of a hill somewhere). With every trip over there, we will increase the distance. Based on collective advice, had a few snack breaks, and plenty of water.

There's a lot to learn. So many bikers in the same place was a little overwhelming in parts, and he is oblivious to other riders. If he wants to change direction suddenly, he does so with little thought. I fear that one day, he could just turn across in front of an overtaking cyclist. It's a little difficult to get through to him, as his new found enthusiasm to be free takes over his mind altogether!

Oh, and he loved the mini skills loop too! There's a few little humps and drops, as well as a switchback and some berms. Even after a couple of spills, he just wanted to keep on going round.

nbuuifx

My 8 year old daughter does a good 20km or so along flat paths, or more like 10km on hilly paths.

My 4 year old is just getting into it, he can manage the whole road (100m or so of gentle hill) now on his balance bike, and can go round and round pedalling on his bike with stabilizers. However he can't even balance without stabilizers on his bigger bike. He can sit on his bike pedalling whilst attached with the trailgator though! He has done 20km or so like that!

slowbike

He's managing the length of the sitting room - with assistance - on his balance bike ... he may be able to go further - he lost interest when we went outside - preferred to pick up stones instead. He's only 15 months old ...

danielboddy

My 6yr old Daughter and I did the FOD Family loop this August, she struggle massively with the first 40% as this is a long gentle uphill (to be fair her bike is Specialised Hotrock 16 singlespeed so she was lacking in any gears to assist) stopping maybe every 500m for a little rest. We stopped about 1/2 way for a sandwich/choc bar and drink for 30 mins to break up the ride and give her a chance to recover. post this its pretty much 100% flat or downhill and we didn't need to stop once. I would also encourage your little one to use the many little off shoot trails that exist around the trail, most are only maybe 10m long but all have something different about them which introduces Blue (ish) trail features, (small rocks, berms, rollovers etc.) they definitely add to the fun factor and break up the longer straight bits.

even though she was struggling in first 1/2 she absolutely loved it and wants to get out again. so give it a go.

Mike Healey

Tow of our club's 8-year olds have done Alpe d'Huez. A couple more have done the Great Yorkshire Bike Ride (Weatherby-Filey 70 miles). 4/5 year olds have done the Spen Valley Greenway and back (about 15m). Can confirm the other posters advice about frequent stops and bribes. It helps if there's something interesting to look at on the way.

Good luck

Baron Greenback

danielboddy wrote:

My 6yr old Daughter and I did the FOD Family loop this August, she struggle massively with the first 40% as this is a long gentle uphill (to be fair her bike is Specialised Hotrock 16 singlespeed so she was lacking in any gears to assist) stopping maybe every 500m for a little rest. We stopped about 1/2 way for a sandwich/choc bar and drink for 30 mins to break up the ride and give her a chance to recover. post this its pretty much 100% flat or downhill and we didn't need to stop once. I would also encourage your little one to use the many little off shoot trails that exist around the trail, most are only maybe 10m long but all have something different about them which introduces Blue (ish) trail features, (small rocks, berms, rollovers etc.) they definitely add to the fun factor and break up the longer straight bits.

even though she was struggling in first 1/2 she absolutely loved it and wants to get out again. so give it a go.

Cheers for this Daniel, glad to hear you made it round well. We made it up to the sculpture trail, and next time will push it a bit further.

I was worried about getting stuck, past the point of no return so to speak, but it seems like once the initial climb is out the way, it all gets easier. I've reviewed a friends strava route, and I can see by the elevation we've probably got nothing to worry about.

He loved the skills loop and tree slalom, along with a walk through the sculpture trail. Going to try and return again this weekend.

Baron Greenback

We successfully made it round today.

The hill for the first section took quite a few stops, but it really was plain sailing after that. My son loved it. I struggled to get him off the skills loop at the end.

It's the furthest I have ridden too, so my legs are feeling it a little!