I think I'm getting to the point that my kids are ready to watch Breaking Away.

It brings up a host of issues.  I think I can explain the ridiculous bike race cheating well enough.  

But the drafting of a truck, that I'm not sure how to handle.  The obvious is that there's almost no way a rider with a 52x13 max gear could draft a truck at 60mph--Assuming a decently larger 53x12, doubtful he had this gear, he's pedaling at 180rpm to get 62mph.  But that's not the real issue.  How to make it neither too glamorous nor too dangerous.  Granted, I saw the movie when I was ten and I don't know if I  drafted a truck until I was around 15.  Not that I told my parents I was going to do it until after the deed was done.

Anyone been down this road yet?

https://youtu.be/GTzzHRywLBE?t=1283

My son is due in about eight weeks and our doctor is predicting that he'll be about 9 pounds at birth. I'm hoping this means he'll be tall... future TdF GC contender.

That's awesome John. Can't wait to see you pour on some dad watts pounds ;P

Just kidding - a little time constraint can be a good thing!

I'm in the same boat, except trying to figure out a way to properly explain to my daughter how Elsa's magical power of controlling the weather gives her the ability to also build incredible architectural structures AND create intelligent lifeforms olely using crystalized, frozen water (see Olaf and guardian snowmen).

David Yang said:

I'm in the same boat, except trying to figure out a way to properly explain to my daughter how Elsa's magical power of controlling the weather gives her the ability to also build incredible architectural structures AND create intelligent lifeforms olely using crystalized, frozen water (see Olaf and guardian snowmen).

The guardian snowmen seemed more like zombies.  

I might not be qualified to post here, but I watched breaking away last summer for the first time at the TNN Camp. 10/10 would recommend watching it as the only American in a room of international cyclists who’d never seen the movie either. I wasn’t next to the Italian guys thankfully. 

My experience has been that the kids consistently have no trouble with what I anticipate will be difficult for them, and get fixated on details I never noticed.

Hans with the crossbow is the stuff of nightmares.

A bit pricey, although we have the strider model and it's awesome. Alternatives for a soon to be 4yr old? ([Edit: 14" wheels}).

I cannot believe Hugo is almost 4!

We now have a pretty extensive stable of kids bikes and our youngest will be 5 this April. He spent a great deal of time this summer on his 12" wheels and the strider bike. Both were basically too small for him by the end of the summer but I think that gave him more control - kids bikes in general seem to be to heavy for the kids they fit.

TLDR; you might not really need a 16" bike next year.

JohnMalcolmson said:

A bit pricey, although we have the strider model and it's awesome. Alternatives for a soon to be 4yr old? ([Edit: 14" wheels}).

As much as I love shiny bikes, my recommendation is to go with used rides.  They're free or cheap.

Some friends of mine have the Early Rider. It’s a very well built, light, fun to ride .... and expensive bike. Kids enjoy riding it. But I agree with what JP said. For me, it’s hard to spend that much on a bike that will be outgrown within a year or two. We got my sons bikes second hand and gifted, and he’s happy with them. And I’m amazed at how heavy they are. 

Looking for a recommdation:

A family friend who lives in Brooklyn is looking for a tutor for her 16 year old son who goes to private school. The son may be a little weak in reading but sounds as if he really need help with study skills. Any leads on tutors, tutoring centers, or educational centers would be appreciated.

thanks 

@PatrickGrehan my wife is an assistant principal in an elementary school in Brooklyn. Different level of education, but maybe she knows someone who can help. I’ll let you know.

May son , had someone for a while, very good with organizational stuff 
crazy expensive
ill get his info

Hope you folks were out in the rain today, because Oscar did Bike New York under his own power for the second time.  

He looked at the rain, said he was game to try, and after about five minutes in the showers, said, "you know, it's not so bad."  

Four hours of riding later, he came home in fine shape, much better than last year.  

The apple doesn't fall very far Wump!
Although I'm highly suspicious of this riding on the tops... are you sure he's yours?

this is awesome JP!

Awesome stuff JP. I envy you and your son. I’m still trying to get my older guy to ride his bike without training wheels 🤓.

Get that kid a Kissena kit

Thanks, fellas.

It's all on Oscar.   

He actually rides the drops quite a bit because he finds the leverage from the hooks better for hard braking.  So, because he crashed some months back while moving his hands on the bars, he now stops before he's going too fast, moves his hands to the drops, and then resumes.  Want him to ride rollers to figure out how to engage his core more, but he's a bit fearful.  Might try putting high boxes on both sides of the rollers so he can use them as easy steps. 

He has a Kissena jersey.  Too wet to reveal.

It took  him a while to get used to riding on his own.  He's been on our Burley Piccolo trail-a-bike since first grade and had been on it nearly daily for a few years, but a few early crashes set him back so that he wasn't ready to ride on his own until the start of 5th grade.  It took about 4-5 rides right before the start of 5th grade to put riding solo together.  It was on what I consider his first road ride of about 4 miles for him to say, 'you know, I think I should do the Five Boro Bike Tour on my own bike next year.'  

Riding in the rain, well, he's been thinking about the ride for quite a while, so I'm not surprised he was willing to go in the wet.  He also got used to riding in bad weather during his time on the Burley, as it was the fastest way to school by a pretty good margin--traffic can be such that on a few occasions, we'd see a classmate in a car in front of our building and get to school faster than that kid did.  And that was a 1.7 mile ride.  He was on the Burley in rain and snow and sub-freezing weather.  As other cycling parents say, 'only ten minutes?  anyone can put up with 10 minutes of any weather.'

Check this out! Sophie wrote Ellen Noble a letter after watching Nationals and Ellen wrote back with a kid sized care package.

To quote @eloy "cyclocross is everything you want cycling to be"

I suppose I have to admit this jersey will be cooler than a KCC jersey.

^also news I suppose this means we'll be traveling to Waterloo WI to cheer in early September...

https://youtu.be/jj0CmnxuTaQ


Is this real?

Wow.

Anyone selling or recommending urban bikes that can mount a kid seat?

My wife (short girl) wants to commute with our daughter (1yo), and we don’t know what to get.

We’re new here in NY.

DiegoSanchez said:

Anyone selling or recommending urban bikes that can mount a kid seat?

My wife (short girl) wants to commute with our daughter (1yo), and we don’t know what to get.

We’re new here in NY.

Tough to commute before they can keep their heads up with a helmet on. We had an xtracycle for several years and I loved it. The side railings saved us from several door-ings and the lower rear wheel made it quite stable.

Useless if you cannot park it on the ground level somehow though - you'll need a motorcycle tarp for it as well.

DiegoSanchez said:

Anyone selling or recommending urban bikes that can mount a kid seat?

My wife (short girl) wants to commute with our daughter (1yo), and we don’t know what to get.

We’re new here in NY.

I used the Topeak baby seat for years.  It has a multi-point harness that holds the kid in firmly and it's high enough that the seat is a roll cage.  There are basically cups for feet as well.  And you can pull the thing off the rack (there's a safety, too) when you don't want to ride it.

https://www.topeak.com/us/en/products/child-carrier

For the bike, the limiter is probably the upper attachment point, whether it's the seat stays (not necessarily a good thing on small bikes) or the seat post.  

In terms of safety, I think it's plenty safe.  The challenge is the extra weight of the bike when carrying it up and down stairs, and the extra upper-body control you need with the weight that high.  At 1 year old, the rig might weigh nearly as much as the kid.  But at 5, the weight is really noticeable.  But, by then, she'll have it mastered.

But as Jules said, the limiter is the kid being able to hold their head up.  My first started using the seat at 1.5 years, though the first helmet was too heavy.  Get the lightest one you can find.  In the early days, he'd fall asleep on rides over 30 minutes.  But short commutes we did until he was big enough for a Burley Piccolo--he was 5.75 and in first grade when we made the switch.

Kids generally love it.  And why wouldn't they?

  

Hey guys! Out here in my corner of Switzerland they have this thing called a 'Slow Up'. It's an event where they block off the roads for an entire day so people can ride their bikes. This one was around part of Lake Gruyère, not far from my city of Fribourg. There are regular stops along the way where refreshments can be bought, along with games and bouncy castles for the kids. We bought a thing called a 'Follow Me Trailer' which attaches your kids bike to yours. We used it for the first time to do this event, and it went real well. It was stable, and my son Adrian loved it. We rode for 30 kilometers, without a problem. For the photos, I'll apologise that I only have one of the 'new' design jerseys, so my son and I wore a couple of my old jerseys. When Patrick shows up with the t-shirts, we'll switch to that for the next big ride out! Overall, it was a super fun father-son bicycle day. My wife couldn't join in the ride because we're about to have a new baby, a boy arriving in early August. I'm not sure I'd use the trailer in NYC, but out here we see it a bit. Once it's on, it's easy to use, and stable. 

So much awesome!