Boxing Day dawned mild and still this year, so we seized the opportunity for a spot of family sport to blow away the Christmas cobwebs.
YY and SB at eight and six are excellent on their bikes and mercifully good at listening to instructions. They ride behind my husband (running) who signals turnings and calls out any obstacles, then I bring up the rear pushing DD in the buggy. Sometimes we all go out on bikes of course, but if we grown-ups both want to run, then this set-up works perfectly.
We invested in decent bikes for YY (who has a Serious Superlite 24) and SB (on an Islabikes Beinn 20), which they love riding and are absolutely worth the price tag. Their lightweight frames, mudguards and range of gears make them super-practical and easy for kids to handle. Plus they both had cycling gloves in their stockings that they were eager to test out!
It’s pretty flat around where we live and not difficult to pick a largely traffic-free route of any distance. My coach had set an endurance session of 1hr15, with 15-20 minutes at sub-4min/km pace. I managed to do the faster bit (more or less – the loaded buggy is pretty heavy these days!) on the fabulous empty cycle path near the airport, SB pedaling alongside me for all his worth.
We stopped a couple of times for a quick drink and a biscuit for the kids (and a few photos for this page) and had done over 17km by the time we got home. DD had a great nap in the Chariot and woke up in a sweet mood, everyone earned their afternoon TV watching and I got to tick off my session. An all-round win!
