Coming back to the fold.

pete236

Evening all,

A long time ago I rode my MTB a lot. Then I got money and got a reliable car. Then I chased girls, moved houses, changed hobbies.
Recently I got married and my eldest daughter got her 1st big bike (still with stabilisers - she is 5 but is so tall she needs a 7/8 year old bike!)
While finding a new bike which fits her, I caved in and bought a Marlin Trek 5.
After a few rides with the eldest on the crossbar, and needing to get a new crash hat (black Friday has a lot to answer for!) I've got the bug again....

I am so ridiculously unfit that it's laughable, my arse hurts after 2 minutes in the saddle. I can't bunny hop or track stand anymore, there is no way I could tackle any kind of jump. I have no time to myself to get out on the bike...and yet I feel totally addicted!

I'm hoping to get on the bike and build up some fitness again, get my legs working. There are some good woods behind the house with a small jump layout known as 'the Squirrel trap' and some good climbs etc to get stuck into. I just need to find some time away from the kids to actually get spinning again!

It's good to have though, and I'm pleased I kept my account here open.

Peter.

pete236

oxoman said:

Welcome back and good luck on getting fit again, as to getting kid free time I suspect you have a few years to go yet.

Cheers! Yeah, with a year old and 11 month old, real time to myself is still a lifetime or two away. But hopefully in the holidays I can get up early and steal an hour before everyone else wakes up. Maybe?

daniel_b

I'd definitely vote for the 'getting out early' thing - when my daughter was small, I used to set the alarm for 04:30 every Sunday, get all my kit ready the night before, get the bike prepped, clothes and shoes out, food, water bottles etc, get an early night - not difficult to manage when you have small children.

I'd head out about 05:00 or 05:30, tap out 50 miles, and be back frequently before either my partner or daughter were awake, and could quite often crack on with making breakfast etc.

Parenting, for me at least, is pretty intense, and I think for my own mental health I needed that time alone on the bike, getting some fresh air - did me the world of good both physically and mentally I have absolutely no doubt.

To add, we used to tag team it, so we'd make sure that my partner had her own time to meet friends, run, cycle, go to the gym etc etc, both during the week and at the weekend.

My daughter is now 10, and very tall, and also cycles, so the landscape has changed a lot, so I don't tend to do the mega early starts very often now, and family rides out have already started, and I hope will increase as she gets stronger as she grows.

I'd definitely try and get your daughter onto something like a Bikeability session - stabilisers have a bad reputation and for good reason, as they teach nothing about the feel of balance.
Balance bikes, or those with pedals removed are far better for them, as they learn to scoot and feel the balance bit for the first time, and then the final part involves the magic ingredient of how to start and stop, with pedalling inbetween, and then they are really off and away.