A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned all the New Year’s resolutions that you could accomplish simply by cycling. One of those was the opportunity to spend more time with your kids.

Cycling is certainly something that the whole family can enjoy together and, as well as the health benefits, it can open the door to a world of exciting adventures. Even a trip to a farm shop to get Granny a few surprise treats can incorporate a bit of history, botany or some simple arithmetic.

Where do you start? Well the youngest children need to be carried somehow. Small babies, once they can sit up straight, can travel in a wide range of quite high-tech baby seats. No more does baby have to endure those tubular metal contraptions that were devoid of any padding.

A modern child seat is made from polycarbonate, it has a high back for safety, the padding is much more comfortable and the harness system can contain even the wriggliest of babies. They are quick and easy to take on and off, so they aren’t too permanent a fixture on your pride and joy.

Many baby seats recline, the gentle motion of a bike on the move often sends a baby to sleep. Please note, no guarantees here, I don’t want to see hordes of parents becoming the Midnight Rambler in a last ditch effort to get some rest.

One final thing, don’t forget that unlike you, your passenger is not generating heat, so make sure that they are wrapped up well.

When kids get too big for a child seat, they are invariably still too small to ride any distance under their own steam, and also probably too small to be on the road with other vehicles. What is the solution? There are three options, a buggy that the children sit in which is towed behind an adult’s bike, a trailer bike which is also towed but which the child can pedal or a connecting bar which links the child’s bike to an adult’s.

All have various benefits, the buggy option lets you take either one or two kids up to a defined weight limit. As a general rule most will fold up quite compactly and many convert into strollers. The more exotic of these buggies can carry every size of baby from a new-born upwards. They can be adapted for people who want to run with them and, they can even have skies fitted so that you can use them in the snow!
This particular type of buggy is so high-tech that some of my staff have fleetingly considered parenthood just to get their hands on one.

The trailer bike gives the experience that is closest to solo cycling. These look like a bicycle that has no forks or front wheel. Some even have a few gears, and because they follow directly behind an adult’s bike, it helps kids get a feel for road craft and signalling.

The connecting bar system has the same benefits that the trailer bike has, with the added bonus that it can be easily removed or attached, letting the child cycle on their own when the opportunity arises. Both systems allow the child to freewheel, so if they get tired, they can be towed home.

So it’s not too hard to get a new generation of cyclists on the road, and what a surprise you’ll give Granny.

Braking(hard) News

* Qatar bids for the Tour de France
Oil rich Gulf State Qatar hopes to put on a stage of the Tour de France in the very near future. For those who aren’t aware, it’s possible to buy a stage of the Tour. Do you remember last year’s race, when over three million people lined London’s streets to watch the spectacle?

* Cairo to Cape Town by Bike
Fancy riding a section of this 96-day, 7,375 mile epic? Easy, just enter the Tour D’Afrique essay competition, submit a 750-word essay, with a few photos, on your most memorable or inspiring cycling story.

* And finally,
Congratulations to Henry Tapper on winning the Halford’s commuter of the Year Award. Henry, an old customer of ours, who now lives in Eton, tells me that he commutes 54 miles a day to work and back.

♦ Arthur Lamy is the manager of Boudins for Bikes, in  Sand Street, and author of Jersey Cycles. He has spent 15 years as a tourist guide and writer, and is also a keen photographer. More information can be found on his website:  http://www.arthurlamy.com/