Features

When I signed my daughter, Anna Sierra, up for art camp, I had no idea the daily commute on our Bike Friday Family Tandem would be the biggest and best adventure of all.

Negotiating gravel through construction sites to get to the Ottawa River Pathway, cruising past geese and groundhogs in the morning sun, scrambling across Ottawa’s locks behind Parliament Hill, tackling heavy traffic safely on the tandem and waving to passing cyclists are all part of our ride downtown.

Sometimes we chat on the bike, other times we ride quietly together. On the way home, my daughter’s little girl voice chatting away drifts up to me while I unwind from my day. With me steering and setting the cadence, Anna Sierra can relax and follow my rhythm.

The trickiest part of our ride is a long steep hill right after we cross the locks. But we’ve developed a strategy to make it all the way to the top. We pedal as hard as we can, then I switch to our granny gear. I put my head down and give it all I’ve got. Anna Sierra stands up to pump, yelling “Go, Mama, go!” I’m sweaty and out of breath when we reach the top, but I’m determined to show my big girl what real women are made of – and I haven’t let her down yet.

I don’t drive and we both think the bus is stuffy, so riding the six-mile (10-kilometer) route is our only real choice. When I hear Anna Sierra’s art teacher reassuring the other parents for the fifth time that the students will be able to walk one kilometer to a museum for a sketching class, I realize how important it is for us to be riding. Kid-friendly, human-powered commuting is rare among the mini-van generation. But those lucky kids who get to commute under their own power love it just as much as their pedal-happy parents do.

The memories I have of cruising the neighborhood with a toddler-sized Anna Sierra cradled between my arms in our front seat are precious. With our helmets close together – her head fit neatly under my chin – we loved riding to parks, the grocery store, friends’ homes and anywhere else we needed to go. Our bike was well-balanced with Anna Sierra up front and I felt comfortable riding in traffic with her there.

When she began riding her own two-wheeler, it didn’t take Anna Sierra long to find her balance. All those rides on Mama’s or Daddy’s bike made cycling as natural as walking.

By the time Anna Sierra could reach the pedals on her trail-a-bike, her little brother, our Jasper, was ready to take his place in the front seat. It’s been a few years since we’ve ridden with a little kid in the front seat and a big kid on a trail-a-bike. So I can’t remember exactly how we all got on. I know we had a system. We always do. And I know it’s a system that other families with kids at just those ages are now using. Those families are the front seat/ trail-a-bike experts.

Now we’ve invested in a Family Tandem – with room for three – and a cargo Kona Ute with room for two big kids to sit on the back. And I know that when we outgrow those bikes, we’ll find ways and means to keep on riding together. It’s our favorite way to get all around town and have an adventure along the way. ı

Visit Kathleen’s Families on Bikes blog at momentumplanet.com/blogs/families-on-bikes or email: familiesonbikes@gmail.com