Hurst Christie - Family biking : the parent’s guide to safe cycling

Robert Hurst is an ex-messenger, amateur historian, and stay-at-home dad. He is also the author of The Art of Cycling, The Cyclists Manifesto, The Art of Mountain Biking: Singletrack Skills for All Riders, Best Bike Rides Denver and Boulder, Mountain Biking Colorados San Juan Mountains, Road Biking Colorado, and Road Biking Colorados Front Range (FalconGuides).

Christie Hurst is an ex-messenger and veteran special education teacher who commutes across the city and back almost every day. When not riding bikes or mothering, she retires to her mountain redoubt and hatches plots.

An imprint of Rowman & Littlefield

Falcon, FalconGuides, and Outfit Your Mind are registered trademarks of Rowman & Littlefield.

Distributed by NATIONAL BOOK NETWORK

Copyright 2016 by Robert Hurst and Christie Hurst

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Information available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hurst, Robert (Robert J.)

Family biking: the parents guide to safe cycling / Robert and Christie Hurst.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4930-0989-3 (pbk. : alk. paper)ISBN 978-1-4930-1503-0 (e-book) 1. Cycling for children. 2. CyclingSafety measures. I. Hurst, Christie. II. Title.

GV1057.2.H87 2015

796.6083dc23

2015028080

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

The authors and Rowman & Littlefield assume no liability for accidents happening to, or injuries sustained by, readers or children who engage in the activities described in this book.

One way to do it: a city cruiser pulling a Weehoo trailer. Courtesy Weehoo

What is family biking? The term could refer to a slow cruise on a neighborhood bike path, a serious commute, or a shopping trip. We know of one dad who carried his kid up and over Independence Pass on a cargo bike. That qualifies. But the critical ingredient is kids. If youre riding with your kid(s), whether they be on board your own bike or cruising next to you on theirs, youre family biking. And thats the purpose of this book: To give biking parents who want to ride with their kids information on the issues that concern them most. From pregnant biking to teaching children to ride safely, its all in here.

Thats not us on the cover. We kind of wish it were. Were not that hot.

And we rarely get out for a recreational ride the likes of which these fine-looking young people appear to be enjoying. Almost all of our riding with our daughter, Bea, is utilitarian transport. Not that we think riding her to the daycare isnt fun. It is most of the time. Certainly its a lot more fun than trying to drive there, which is a level of Hell. Every time we try to make that drive, we shake our fists at the sky and scream, Why?! Whyyyy?

On our bikes the trip is much more interesting, and also it seems much easier. Its definitely as fast or faster than it is in a car. Were lucky to have one of the worlds fanciest bike pathsalmost like a highway for bikeswithin a few blocks of our house, running almost the whole way there, slipping beneath all the streets and intersections. If that fantastic infrastructure werent in place, our bike commute would have a very different feel. Most family bikers arent so lucky.

Were far from the most experienced family bikers out there. We readily admit to that. While we ride with her a lot, we only have one kid to haul around. There are moms and dads out there riding three kidsor moreevery day, car-free. We cant hold a candle to them. They have figured out so much more than we have about the logistics and associated equipment of baby-hauling. About babies in general. But weve certainly been on our bikes much more than the average Jane and Joe. Between the two of us we have almost thirty years of bike messenger experience. Robert wrote several biking guides, and Christie pedals a 30-mile round-trip commute year-round, and kept it up through her pregnancy. Weve paid our pedaling dues.

To fill in the gaps in our experience and to glean insights, we had conversations with as many family bikers as we could find, people with wide-ranging backgrounds. Even if you think you know everything, how will you know for sure unless you listen to others? We glommed on shamelessly to others knowledge. Big thanks especially to Clarise Jenkins, Jonathan Maus, Alexis Rohde, Patrick Barber, Sally Ruiz, Kathy Steinhauer, Paul Stuckey, Rita Geller, Danielle Givens, and Kathy Gillis, whose contributions were not only crucial but cool.

One of the themes we came away with while compiling the info here is that every one of the available methods of family bikingfront seat, rear seat, trailer, bakfiets (youll learn some Dutch and Danish in this book), cargo trike, long-tail, tandem, or trailer bikehas its own certain coolness about it. We think some work better than others, but each has unique advantages. Each is particularly useful in its own way, and none is perfect.

The resulting book has three parts. Part One starts in the womb, with Christies look at biking while pregnant. It then tackles some of the snarliest questions in family biking, like how young is too young to put a kid on a bike? Whats the best way to carry an infant, if any? How should parents ride when carrying their kids? Is excessive vibration going to scramble your kids brain? Part Two is the buyers guide for family biking products, discussing everything from youth helmets to kids first pedal bicycles. Part Three concerns itself with the issues that arise when the child is old enough to go pedaling off on her own.

Family biking is not without controversies, and this book does not shy away from them. Readers will learn about several, starting with a close look at kids helmets and helmet standards that will surprise and anger some readers. We reexamine the American bias against bike-mounted child seats: As it so often does, the conventional wisdom got it all wrong. We debate the alleged safety of trailers, question the physics of rear-loaded cargo bikes, and throw the entire concept of training wheels off the Golden Gate Bridge. Finally, we wont shy away from the scariest question of all: Is it safe for my child to ride on the streets? This is a question well struggle with in our own family before too long.

We took many of the photos, but also requested stock photos from the manufacturers. We thank them for giving us permission to use their photos and apologize if they sent us something that didnt get used.