Discouraged Newb

Road riding is good preparation for driving. Street Smarts is the official bicyclist manual for several states, and is available online. If it's not the official manual for your state, it's still helpful, but some details of the law might be different. I've found it *very* helpful, and it should be useful for your older daughter. Roads can be scary places to ride, but understanding the rules helps. Even in places where it feels like every driver is gunning for you :o. Some bike shops and cycling clubs offer road riding courses and maintenance courses. Those might be a bigger value for you than new bike stuff :D.

Your younger daughter is probably not ready to ride on her own most places. Your older daughter is probably good for about a 2-3 mile radius from your house, with good road skills. They both might be more interested if you teach them safe routes so they can go places they enjoy. There's probably a park or playground or friend's house that's a bit far to walk, but a reasonable distance to bike alone. Most kids like being independent. My parents got me into riding a bit as a kid that way, with some simple rules so they knew where I was. I also got rescued fairly often when I got in over my head... meant I learned to remove wheels pretty easily :)

I also find it really helps to let myself do badly. It's ok if I fall. It's ok to not make it up a hard hill. I'll do better next time, and if I beat myself up over the mistake, there won't *be* a next time.

I love maps and trip planning, and so that has been my driver so far.
I have days where I want to sleep in, and not ride. Then I remember that cycling is good for the brain. It really is.
And I am always happy when I get home. And fiercely proud. And wicked vain.

;)

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Originally Posted by indigoiis

cycling is good for the brain. It really is.
And I am always happy when I get home. And fiercely proud. And wicked vain. ;)

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And wicked smart! ;)

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Originally Posted by Torrilin

. Your older daughter is probably good for about a 2-3 mile radius from your house, with good road skills. They both might be more interested if you teach them safe routes so they can go places they enjoy. .

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I must respectfully disagree. As soon as both of our sons could handle bikes without training wheels, my husband was taking them on 5 mile rides with me as the caboose so to speak; and when my younger son was 11 (and TINY, probably 80 pounds) they all did the STP (Seattle to portland in two days; 200 miles) with me following in a campervan.

get the kids going while they are younger; don't wait for the teen years to set in and ruin everything!

I agree with Mimi. The kids can go longer distances than we realize, if they are properly encouraged, supported and fed. Most kids don't know how long a mile is, so the thought of riding 20 of them doesn't seem to click like it does in an adult.

However, my son who has been my biking partner for 3 years now, is falling behind me, and now I'm worried about whether he will be able to do the 50 mile ride we have planned for October. eek.

Also, to the original thread....when it starts to feel like a grind to me, I slow down and remember why I always liked riding in the first place. One of my favorite things to do when I was a teen on a ten-speed was swerve around and crush as many dry leaves as I could. Something about that crunch was just so satisfying! So now when I start to feel "eh" about my ride, I start crunching some leaves (as dry as it's been we have plenty, even though it's not fall). Or I follow the shadows of the power lines on the pavement. Or I ride around neighborhoods and admire houses or look in people's windows. (Yes, really! If they don't like it they shouldn't leave their shades up!)

When it starts to feel like "work" or "fitness" then I get bored. So I shake it up a little and ride somewhere else, stop and get a milkshake. ;)

Karen

oh yeah, Karen, you reminded me!

A lot of us take singular pleasure in EATING and have discovered that after a hard bike ride you can eat without guilt.. (you can take this too far too)

I spent a year riding on a mtb with slicks, doing the same 3 or 4 15 mile rides. It got me comfortable on lower traffic roads, but it took my husband forcing me to go up some big climbs on that bike and to do a 20 mile ride. When I saw I could do that, I got a road bike. I worked on increasing my speed for about 2 more years. I find that I need to mix up the kind of riding I do, or I get a "bad attitude." I still am not too confident about my mechanical abilities and i actually ride by myself less now than I did at the beginning. But, I can ride pretty much anywhere, now and deal with traffic, too, although I don't particularly love that. So some days I go out for a fast, short ride, sometimes I ride for fun with a friend who is slower than me, and sometimes I ride with groups. Riding with my husband either pushes me or we both decide to go at a certain speed and stick to it. A big part of the problem is shutting off that voice inside your head that is constantly saying "this su*ks. I still hear it after 7 years and if you let it get to you, it will kill any joy in riding. Then, of course, after I have finished the ride, i feel very accomplished. This happens to me a lot in situations where i don't know the terrain and the type of climbing involved. So, I take that into consideration and realize that any time that is the first time I've done that route, especially not in my local area, I tend to get a little negative.
Keep working at it!

You guys have all given me so many good suggestions and so much to think about. I appreciate it.

Mimi and Karen - what kind of bikes did your sons ride when they were small? Although my little one may be 10, she is the size of many kindergarteners. (Way OT, but my sister told me yesterday that my niece is wearing size 8 school uniform jumpers now that she has started Kindergarten. When my little one started Kindergarten in that same school, I had to special order size 2 jumpers from the uniform store!!).

I know many children's bikes are adjusted so that thechild can touch the ground flat-footed while sitting in the saddle, but DD cannot do that even on a bike with 20" wheels. She IS properly fed (lol) and gets a great deal of encouragement as well. However, with her bike probably weighing about 70% as much as she does - wouldn't that take a LOT of effort? The two DD's do ride regularly to the local swimming pool and to the Walgreens (which you can reach via regular neighborhood side streets). She *likes* riding her bike and has done 5 or 6 miles with us, but she is just not enthusiastic about those longer rides. I have wondered if it would help if I could find a bike for her that weighs a lot less. I should probably at least change out her tires since the girls rarely ride on anything unpaved.

my son (who wasn't as small as your daughter) rode a schwinn 10 speed... all the way to portland. his cute little legs pedalled him all the way down there.
I don't know what's available for your daughter; my son is now 26 years old.

Mimi, I meant alone :). With a parent handy, a lot longer is safe and sane. But I know I didn't have the judgment to go on a 10 mile round trip by myself at 12. I also had to do my own route planning, so it might be very different for a 12 year old with help.

Will was 10 when we started riding and he's as big as me (taller now). You're right about your daughter's weight/bike ratio! I know there are plenty of kid-size road bikes around, if you don't mind spending a little more than the regular kids bikes. I've got about $1200 in both of Will's bikes (road and mountain).

What I've noticed when I see kids on event rides is that their gearing is so low that they pedal way way more than most people have to, so they're going to get worn out.

Karen