cycle-touring kids & their loaded panniers

Wow. I just finished skyping with dearie who has been riding part of cycling route last few days and today that follows the Rhine R. in Germany. Route is approx. 700 kms. and goes to Swiss border.

He was amazed to see along the route, several times, children approx. 9-11 yrs. old, cycling on their own bikes..with their own loaded panniers. They were obviously with parents/adults also touring.

His words to me: "It would put us (adults) to shame to see these little ones huffing and puffing away on the path with their loads. Ok, maybe that big pannier was stuffed with a teddy bear or pillow.. but still. :)

So, come on TE...let's go bike touring! If they can do it...so can ...you. :D

Where do you want to go?

My sister and I would be up for a tour around Vancouver. :rolleyes:
Plan it and we will come. :D bikerHen

I'm talking about a Vancouver-to-Key West tour in the next couple of years. Does that count? As soon as Younger Daughter graduates from that Big Expensive University That Everyone Has Heard About And Nobody Can Afford, I'm outta here! I'd take companionship for all or parts of the journey.

In the meantime, I'm up for shorter rides in the middle of the country, assuming I can get time off from the jobs. The Katy Trail and the Mickelson Trail are do-able . . .

I can do a bit with you from Vancouver. :)

I'll start another topic because that's something I've been thinking about, but I really wish I could talk my partner into touring. He's not ready to picture himself on a touring bike yet, alas. But he loves supported touring.

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Originally Posted by shootingstar

He was amazed to see along the route, several times, children approx. 9-11 yrs. old, cycling on their own bikes..with their own loaded panniers. They were obviously with parents/adults also touring.

His words to me: "It would put us (adults) to shame to see these little ones huffing and puffing away on the path with their loads. Ok, maybe that big pannier was stuffed with a teddy bear or pillow.. but still. :)

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ehhhh I started touring with my mom at around that age (probably 11-12 ish). I certainly did not carry a pillow and a teddy bear... I carried all of my own clothing, my sleeping bag and pad, and part of the food/cooking kit. My mom did take the tent, so I never had the heaviest load, but I did take my share. Kids are tougher than you think they are.

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Originally Posted by Grog

But he loves supported touring.

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Well a person still looks "sleek"/sportif without the..clumsiness of baggage with supported touring.

Ah, he ought to join my partner, to shake off the cobbwebs of touring geekdom.. :D:o It's cycling-weightlifting :D :D ...he really ought to talk to my partner. Those mountain passes....he actually finds Rogers Pass in Alberta Rockies easier than other passes with pannier loads.

A different form of digging deep inside yourself into the unknown. You know, cycling with loads, for 6 hrs. in pouring rain and no rain shoe covers in Quebec (3 yrs. ago)... This was in June..my feet were numb white and cold. Thank goodness it was a Route Verte route... it would have been more agonizing with splashing pouring rain and logging trucks ...about 10 years ago..not far from Wakefield.

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Originally Posted by Eden

ehhhh I started touring with my mom at around that age (probably 11-12 ish). I certainly did not carry a pillow and a teddy bear... I carried all of my own clothing, my sleeping bag and pad, and part of the food/cooking kit. My mom did take the tent, so I never had the heaviest load, but I did take my share. Kids are tougher than you think they are.

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What distances did you cycle at that age?

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Originally Posted by shootingstar

What distances did you cycle at that age?

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If I remember correctly we kept it around 30 miles per day.

When we did our supported tour in and around Quebec City 2 years ago, we saw many families touring on the Route Vert with huge, heavy bikes loaded panniers, etc. I was amazed. I would like to try this someday, but I don't know if I need *another* bike. Besides my road bike, I have a hybrid (Jamis Coda) and a mountain bike. My husband has a Bike Friday, but it's the road bike model. We could probably do a local tour or short one on the Jamis' but I think the flat bars would bug me.
We've thought about trading in the BF for 2 touring Bike Fridays. What's another few thousand dollars at this point???? :eek:

You can tour on a road bike friday, its all marketing hype. Yes, you can put tires as wide as 2" on a NWT, but you can go 1.35" on a road model which is plenty wide even for packed dirt.

I toured from chiapis to guatemala on my bike friday pocket rocket pro. The only issue may be whether he has a model that accepts a front rack (all accept rear racks, pocket rockets have both, pros just take rear), and how much weight the bike accepts vs the rider plus luggage weight. You guys are small so unless he has a pocket pro petite you'll be fine.

We're nowhere near anyplace that any bike tourers want to ride, so I've never actually seen people riding loaded. I think it's so cool for kids to do it with their parents. What a wonderful family adventure!

Can you pull a BOB trailer with a BF? Just curious. Not that I am going to buy a BF or a BOB, but I wondered if you could do that instead of front and rear racks for your road BF.

Absolutely! I also had a trailer I'd use to go grocery shopping on my BF PRP. But really its no big deal to carry pannier bags on a std road BF unless you are a very heavy rider already close to the weight limit of the bike.

Interesting, Trisk. He has the Pocket Rocket Pro, so it would take just the rear rack. I would have to get the "petite" size in that bike... He hardly ever rides it, except when he goes to Europe. And his last trip, about a month ago, he didn't take it at the last minute, because it was raining and 40 degrees in France and that continued the whole time he was there. He used to ride it more around here before we got our current road bikes. We really thought about getting them more so we could easily take our bikes on a vacation where we flew somewhere. So, it's not like we would be doing extended tours. Maybe 2-3 days, and it would not be camping. I mean, I like camping, but I don't want to pull that stuff around with me.
Well, it's probably not in the cards, unless I ask for it for a birthday present, for like the next 5 years, with me going back to school. Of course, it seems like we can always justify bike purchases and related shwag. We love our Jamis bikes even though we only use them for little jaunts around town. Today we rode to breakfast and a couple of errands, and it just makes you feel happy to be pedaling along at 13 mph, not totally in lycra.

FYI, BF petite doesn't mean short, it means extra light weight for very light riders. It refers to the weight of the steel tubing selected to build the bike with. Pro-petites use the lightest, followed by pros, followed by regular rockets, followed by the touring models.

You can still get a bike in an XXS sized frame, with reg. pro tubing. In fact, you can even get a pro with a fork with eyelets, but the fork will use heavier tubing.

You are so light though, that perhaps a petite frame would still be desirable, even with pannier bags. Again, you just need to discuss how much you and your luggage weigh with them when choosing what tubing to use.

If I remember correctly, a pro might have a weight limit of 170lb, while a petite pro of 140lb. A regular rocket can go up to 210lb I think. But check with BF, these are just rough ideas. And they can custom build you anything you want. In BF terms though, touring models are more about accomodating very wide tires and fenders rather than about touring geometry. If you never want to carry much weight anyway, a petite pro could be just the ticket. Sometimes they are available used too if you watch.

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Originally Posted by Crankin

Interesting, Trisk. He has the Pocket Rocket Pro, so it would take just the rear rack. I would have to get the "petite" size in that bike... He hardly ever rides it, except when he goes to Europe. And his last trip, about a month ago, he didn't take it at the last minute, because it was raining and 40 degrees in France and that continued the whole time he was there. He used to ride it more around here before we got our current road bikes. We really thought about getting them more so we could easily take our bikes on a vacation where we flew somewhere. So, it's not like we would be doing extended tours. Maybe 2-3 days, and it would not be camping. I mean, I like camping, but I don't want to pull that stuff around with me.
Well, it's probably not in the cards, unless I ask for it for a birthday present, for like the next 5 years, with me going back to school. Of course, it seems like we can always justify bike purchases and related shwag. We love our Jamis bikes even though we only use them for little jaunts around town. Today we rode to breakfast and a couple of errands, and it just makes you feel happy to be pedaling along at 13 mph, not totally in lycra.

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