How to Enjoy Family Bike Rides with Toddlers

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One of my favorite memories as a child is when my mom, brother and I took family bike rides around the block after dinner and to the local library. This is a summer memory I still treasure to this day. These family bike rides made me feel happy and I loved that it was something I did with my mom and brother. I looked forward to it every day and anxiously awaited until my mom was finished cleaning up the dinner dishes to go on our bike ride!

When I moved into my first apartment, my mom gifted me a new bike for my birthday. I used it to go to the grocery store and go for rides around the neighborhoods. My bike also went on many longer rides with one of my close friends. It was so much fun exploring the beautiful area in which I live!  

As you can see, riding a bike is surrounded by many positive memories. However, I got busier between work (I was a former ESL teacher), completing my graduate degree in Reading Education, dating my now husband, getting married and starting a family. Sooo my bike sat in the garage collecting dust for a number of years, 10 years to be exact. 

But, the recent stay-at-home orders during the COVID-19 Pandemic motivated me to pull my bike out, dust it off and put some air in the tires. 

Why family bike rides?

As the mom of a busy 3 ½ year old daughter and 17 month old son, I was looking for some new activities to do with the kids. We were taking daily walks, but my daughter was never fully content in the stroller. I was able to maybe, if I was lucky and she was in an agreeable mood that day, to get in a 20-30 minute walk. 

My daughter definitely needs me to play games such as “I Spy” or just sing songs with her while we were walking to keep her content a little longer. We counted the number of red cars in our neighborhood, looked for different colored flowers, and walked by the house with the giant stuffed bear in the front window a few times. Needless to say, walks with both kids required a lot of effort on my part and weren’t exactly the most relaxing.

My son, on the other hand, is completely content in the stroller for an hour or more. In fact, I take him on walks while his big sister is napping. During these walks, I listen to an audiobook or podcast. This was a huge benefit of my husband working from home during this pandemic. I look forward to getting out and about with my son while my daughter is napping!

One daily goal of mine as a stay at home mom is making sure I exercise. This keeps me physically, mentally and emotionally healthy! I love to be active so daily exercise is a priority of mine.  

Most days, this exercise needs to be in the company of my kiddos as my son woke up in the middle of the night so waking up earlier is harder or naptimes did not happen at the same time during the day so there is no naptime break to get in some exercise. 

While walking is wonderful exercise, I needed something more. Sure, I own a double and single jogging stroller, but I can only run so far before my daughter asks, “Are we home yet?” 

That’s when the idea of biking with my kids came about!

What items did we need for family bike rides?

Double Bike Trailer or Bicycle Seat for Toddlers

A running friend of mine gave me a double bike trailer that her children outgrew. I was excited to hook this up and give it a try! Unfortunately, it broke after a few uses, but we were grateful for another mom to share this with us. 

I ended up consulting Facebook Marketplace for a bike trailer and was amazed at the number being sold. Most of them were in great condition and cost significantly cheaper than a brand new one. The descriptions shared that these trailers were only used a handful of times! So, we managed to find another one for only $40, which was so awesome!! It bummed us out when the other one broke because we were looking forward to bike rides. We were so happy it worked out the way it did.  

What I like about biking is that you can cover a greater distance and it’s an awesome workout for the legs and core. Plus, it gets the heart moving, making it a great option for some cardio.

Riding in the bike trailer highly appealed to my daughter because we go fast! I take the kids out for closer to 45 minutes to an hour at a time. This feels like a good way to get a workout in each day. Plus, it is an activity that all of us can do together as a family. 

My husband does not like running, but he enjoys biking! When we hooked the bike trailer up to my bike, my husband and I took turns taking it for a ride and forgot how much fun it is to ride a bike! He didn’t have his bike anymore so we needed to look for another bike so that family bike rides could take place. 

A Second Bicycle

We chose to look for a used bike, as we didn’t need something brand new. When doing a search on Facebook Marketplace, we found many bike options. They were selling fast, though! We were able to find a bike for sale at a local business. It cost us $75 and worked well. I called the business owner and he said everything was in good shape. We drove down, test drove the bike, bought it and took it home. This bike became my bike as it is a women’s bike. We already had the bike trailer hooked up to my original bike, which actually happens to be a men’s bike. So now we are set for family bike rides!

Bicycle Helmets

The only other items we needed to purchase to make this vision of fun family bike rides a reality was a helmet for my husband and my son. My daughter and I already owned helmets. I believe that helmets are so important and keep everyone safe on the bike ride. It is an easy way to reduce the risk of serious injuries to the head and brain. Wearing a helmet can save your life and the lives of your family if an accident should occur during a bike ride! 

It was definitely hard to find helmets as they seemed to be out of stock everywhere. I was getting the feeling that biking was becoming a new activity of choice for many people. But, we managed to find an infant helmet and an adult helmet for my husband online. 

Transporting Our Bikes to Local Paths & Trails

We also decided to get a bike carrier for our car. There are so many great biking paths and trails in our county. Being able to transport our bikes to these paths and trails would give us the opportunity to explore! Just gives us and the kids a change of scenery, which is so essential when we are limited on places to go right now. 

We went with the Allen Sports 2-Bike Hitch Rack Deluxe. This was just the right size for us. We only need to transport two bikes at the moment. The bike trailer fits in the back of my Honda Pilot. When we do start doing family bike rides where our son and daughter ride their bikes, too, those will be small enough to fit into our trunk. Eventually we will upgrade to a bigger bike rack, but for now, this one seemed like it would do the job of transporting our bikes just fine. Plus, the brand, Allen Sports, came recommended by a friend! 

It is a solid bike rack and was very easy to hook up. It also tilts back for easy access to our trunk. The tie-down cradle system securely held our bikes while driving. We didn’t hear any sort of rattling or banging while driving with the bikes hooked up! 

So now that we are off and running with family bike riding, here are my top tips for making it an enjoyable experience for mom, dad and the kids!

Tips for Biking with Toddlers

Pack lots of snacks!

We packed an insulated lunch bag with applesauce pouches, oranges and bananas. We also added some Fruit & Grain Cereal Bars to eat when we took breaks. Goldfish Crackers, Cheerios or Graham Cracker snacks are great for the kids to eat while sitting in the bike trailer. I fill up reusable snack pouches with Goldfish Crackers or Cheerios and the kids happily munch away while dad and I pedal away. 

Place a rolled up towel or blanket between the kids.

This helps keep them more comfortable while riding in the bike trailer. It also served as a little arm rest for the kids. Another benefit is if we stop at a playground, the towel can be used to dry off any slides that might be wet! 

Pack lots of water!

We actually made the mistake on our first bike ride of not packing enough water. We decided for the next time that we will keep a cooler in the car filled with a mix of frozen (and unfrozen) water bottles available to us at the conclusion of the bike ride.

Take breaks to let the little ones stretch their legs and run around.

Many of the trails we have tried so far include open fields and parks. Our son and daughter enjoyed running/walking around after sitting in the trailer for 30-40 minutes at a time. If we are taking a family bike ride near our house, we will bike to a playground, let kids play at the playground and then bike home. 

Engage your toddler during the bike ride.

Our daughter needs constant engagement so we sang songs (we added lots of new verses to “Wheels on the Bus”), looked for dogs, and just had her look for things. 

Dress in layers.

When you are riding a bike, it is breezier than if you were walking, especially for the toddlers. Therefore, dress in layers so everyone can easily take something off if they get too hot during the family bike ride. We dressed our toddlers in a light jacket for the start of our bike ride since it was cooler in the morning. During our first break, we took the jackets off and were able to place in bottom of bike trailer.

Choose routes that avoid busy roads when possible.

We are fortunate enough to live near several quiet neighborhoods so we can just “neighborhood hop” as I call it. Other times, we travel to local paved bike trails or ride on roads that have wide sidewalks or bike lanes. You will just have to ask some friends for recommendations or do some research on local websites. Local Facebook groups are another good resource.

Perform an A-B-C check on the bicycles and bike trailer.

Before heading out for your family bike ride, check to make sure all tires have plenty of air, the brakes work and the chain has plenty of lube to work properly. This is easy to forget in the busyness of getting the toddlers loaded up and packing everything you need for your ride, but it is something that is so important to do!

We are looking forward to biking all the miles together as a family. Our hope is that by doing an activity like this together, our kids will grow up to enjoy bike riding and being outside.

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