Every summer, I have such idyllic bike dreams. We’ll have picturesque picnics and bike to get ice cream and play in the fountains. And we certainly will do that – or at least we’ll try. But we’ll also get hot, sticky, wet, and sunburned, and come home sweaty and worn, with somebody – or everybody –crying about something.
Let’s not pretend that every outing is a dream come true in the land of happily-ever-after. The reality is that we live in the land of bike tires that perpetually need more air, kickstands that get stuck, and chains that fall off. Or even on a very bad day: a pannier that works its way into the bike tire.
On that note we’ve recently had some, ahem, character-building experiences.
My summer goal this year was to do some “park and ride adventures,” where we’d drive the kids out to enjoy great rides on carfree paths, venturing beyond our usual haunts and familiar neighborhood routes. And though I don’t love the driving part, I wanted my children to have the experience of exploring new places by bike, especially with the fun and freedom of carfree paths.
So here’s how it went…
Bike Adventure #1: Covered Bridges Scenic Bikeway, Cottage Grove OR
For our first big bike adventure, I had grand plans to try out the Covered Bridges Scenic Bikeway during our annual summer camping trip to Cottage Grove, OR. Attempting to be responsible, I began filling all the bike tires before we left. As I was filling the last set of tires on my own bike, the front tube popped–the night before our camping trip. Of course, it was the only tire for which I lacked a replacement tube; it was too late to visit my local bike shop for help, and we were supposed to be leaving first thing the next morning. I nearly gave up right there in the driveway. But I took a deep breath instead. Of course, there would be a bike shop at our destination, so I reasoned this could be an opportunity to visit the local bike hub in a new town and maybe learn a few local tips while my tube got replaced. This busted tube could be part of the adventure, not the end of the adventure, right?
At times like this, I try to remember my fondness for bike-around-the-world travel stories. I often wish I could be exploring the world on a bicycle myself. So when my tire pops in the driveway with five kids watching, I try to imagine myself changing a tire in a remote mountain village. Perhaps I will someday.
Our current family bike travels look significantly more modest, but I can approach them with the same determination I would need on a world bike tour. We can’t let one popped tube end our trip! And besides, there was a lovely bike shop where we were going: Rainy Peak Cycles in Cottage Grove, OR. The mechanic at Rainy Peak agreed to replace my bike tube on the spot while the kids and I explored the downtown antique shops. I even got the sort of tip I was hoping for, as I admired the mechanic’s hat and apron. He told me I can purchase such bespoke bike-specific hand-made-in-Oregon items for myself from Randy Jo Fabrications. Now, I’m putting these caps on our back-to-school wishlist!
Unfortunately, cool caps aside, the tire fix was unable to solve the series of problems that awaited us. We arrived too late at camp to go for an evening bike ride. Then we learned that the nearby access road to the bike path was closed. Then we postponed our bike ride to our last morning, because my kids wanted to stay at camp to play with their friends. Then two of my children came down with a bad case of pink eye, looked miserable, and wanted to go home without riding. I briefly considered dragging them all out for the ride anyway, but I could tell it was a bad idea.
Recognizing defeat, I surrendered to going home. After pumping all the tires and lugging all the bikes and gear across Oregon to go camping and biking, we didn’t even manage to ride the bike path I had intended. It felt like a failure of ridiculous proportion. “Maybe next year”… if I ever try this again.
Bike Adventure #2: Car-Free Bike Trail at Champoeg State Park, Newberg OR
For our next attempt at a summer bike adventure, we decided to try a car-free bike path closer to home, at Champoeg State Park. This time we made it to our destination, got everybody on bikes, and rolled out. Two of my kids crashed in the first five minutes, but otherwise our beautiful ride seemed blissful – until we were about a mile out. At that point, the chain fell off my five-year-old’s little bike. We pulled over and I wrestled it back on. However, the chain, which had never fallen off before, was hopelessly loose and proceeded to fall off every twenty seconds thereafter. We had to turn around, and very slowly make our way back, replacing the fallen-off chain about thirty times on the return trip. Passerby bikers attempted to help, but we didn’t have a multi-tool or bike tool set with us (another lesson: take tools on bike adventures–and learn how to use them!) Very slowly, we we hobbled back from summer bike adventure #2 – which was in my mind, another defeat.
Bike Adventure #3: Multi-Modal Bike-MAX-Bike trip to Westside Bike Happy Hour, Beaverton OR
Not ready to give up, I pushed on with plans for yet another family bike outing. For our next trip, I decided to take my four younger kids on a multi-modal trip to Westside Bike Happy Hour (bike+MAX+bike), because I have always dreamed of multi-modal travel and making it to Bike Happy Hour with our bikes and without having to drive; but that attempt also failed.
First of all, it was rainy, and three of our bikes needed new lights, which meant a lot of searching for lights, batteries and a screwdriver and getting all the new lights in place – it took almost an extra hour to get all those lights on all the lightless bikes! I was tired before we even started riding. Then, after we finally made it on the MAX with all our bikes (a complicated choreography with four young children), I was unable to wrestle the bikes onto the hooks myself. I needed an uncomfortable amount of help from a friendly stranger to hang the bikes, and then the handicapped seating (where my kids sat near me and the bikes) was needed by multiple other riders, and I began to worry that the train was getting too crowded to accommodate us (especially with my Mama-bike and its kid seats taking up extra space and all of us generally just being in everyone’s way.) So, I nervously got us all off the MAX after a few stops, then tried to redeem our outing by purchasing dinner at a hamburger joint (which should have been a rare treat) – but all of my kids rejected the fancy burgers and “spicy” fries, which was a significant disappointment for them and for my wallet.
Making matters worse, I was a nervous wreck about the MAX ride home, especially since I had been unable to hang our bikes on the hooks by myself (making it harder: I was baby-wearing my toddler, so he wouldn’t run off while we were boarding the train). Coaching multiple young children with their bikes and my bike on and off the MAX really stressed me out. I was worried about my kids crashing into other passengers in their hurry to try to load the bikes on the train. I was worried about a kid tripping or getting separated from me. We did pinch some fingers and scrape some legs (our own), and I still have bruises from my bike crashing onto my leg during the un-hooking process.
We made it home, but I felt tense, exhausted, and defeated. I had been dreaming about multi-modal family trips for years, and thought we were going to make our first Bike Happy Hour on our bikes – and we didn’t even arrive. Another bike adventure flop!
View from the kids’ perspective
So if you haven’t heard from me for a few weeks, it’s because I have felt like all of our big summer biking attempts have been a disaster, and I’m more than a little discouraged and even embarrassed. It hasn’t been the sort of blissful, Instagram-worthy summer I expected. But as I reflected, and tried to decide if we’ll try any more “adventures,” I asked my children about our “failed trips.” And this is what I heard:
“It was so much fun!”
“I loved it! It was my favorite.”
“I can’t wait to go again next year!”
“The chain falling off was a bummer, but we got to pick blackberries, so it was still pretty good.”
“I love riding the train!”
“When will I be old enough to ride the MAX by myself [with my bike]? That’s going to be so much fun!”
I may have been stressed, frustrated, tired, and even depressed after our “failed” bike outings, but my kids had a blast (except for those hamburgers). They tolerated the chain-fall-off fiasco with acceptance and positivity, and enjoyed the outing in spite of it. On our camping trip, we didn’t get to ride the carfree trail, but my kids were thrilled to have their bikes at the campground, where I allowed them the freedom to bike around on their own, which was the height of joy for my younger boys (who aren’t allowed independent biking at home, on our urban streets). And it was at the camp that my five-year-old learned to bike without training wheels, which was the happiest moment of his summer. He didn’t even know we “missed out” on a planned trail ride. He thought riding in endless independent loops around the campground was the most fun he could possibly have. As for the MAX ride, my kids enjoyed that too, and began pining for the day when they would be old enough to explore the world by bike and transit all on their own.
What I realize is:
- Biking builds perseverance and a taste for challenging adventures. I see this in my kids, and I need to learn from their grit and positive attitudes.
- My kids didn’t have the expectation of accomplishing a certain biking objective–they were just happy to be on bikes. Therefore, they didn’t see any failures. They enjoyed whatever our trips ended up becoming.
- My kids are remembering the best things, and even the mishaps turn into tales of adventure for them. For them, this is a summer of happy biking memories–and summer isn’t over yet!
Which means, we have more bike adventures to try.
I hope you had a happy bike summer, full of adventure and fun. But if your bike summer has felt a bit wobbly, or if you have suffered any family bike failures, I hope you find the determination of a five-year-old learning to ride without training wheels: get back on the bike, and love every flying minute of it.
That’s exactly what we are going to do. Keep going, and enjoy the rides to come.
If you have had a favorite family bike adventure this summer, or have a recommendation for our next family “park & ride” outing, please leave a message in the comments. Happy riding!
Thanks for reading.
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Mom….you are a hero. Respect to you!
On the one hand, I can’t imagine taking my bike to someone to fix a flat. You’re going to get flats, maybe often. It’s like the one mechanical failure you will get all the time, and the inconvenience of taking it somewhere to fix it just isn’t worth it. Maybe it was destroyed beyond repair though? And the chain tension would require the same tools needed to fix a flat.
On the other, it really should be easier. I don’t know why it is, but it seems like biking just requires people to do more of their own maintenance than would be expected in a car, and I don’t know why that is the case. Maybe it’s because they have to stay light weight, they aren’t as over built? Car tires are thick.
It makes me think of a recent “The War on Cars” podcast where they talked about a book from the vehicular cycling guy John Forester. He seemingly spent half the book going into excruciating detail of the extensive maintenance and hoops you have to jump through just to ride a bike. Suffice to say, that’s not a good approach to convince people to ride.
That said, I’ve been there where trips with the kid that are meant to go one way just seem like a disaster that stresses me out. I like what your kids had to say about it. It was an adventure of some sort either way. I always tell my son we’re going on a whatever “adventure”.
Good story, thanks! And I don’t mean my first paragraph too harshly. I know some people just don’t want to deal with it! Or are caught off guard without the right preparation, etc. I mean it more as a general comment.
Or those that don’t have the knowledge or tools to do maintenance could go to their local bike shops to do it for a nominal fee.
Heck, I remember back in the dinosaur days when I was in college and was a serious biker I didn’t have all the necessary tools to do some of the maintenance, so I had to go to the local bike shop.