I AM SUPER CLAIRE!!!!!!”
Folks ask me how old Claire was when she learned to pedal a bike and then give me the most incredulous looks when I say she had just turned six. “Really, six years old?” Oh, did you mean the first time?
Claire was about one-and-a-half when I pushed her to the grocery store on her runbike for the first time. A couple years later she was pedaling herself on her 14″ wheeled Spawn. I have photos of her chasing Nina along the paved path through the Seymour Demonstration Forest yelling “Don’t ride into the ditch Mama!” and laughing. She blasted along spinning her single gear like a mad child. The same story when she outgrew the Spawn and we upgraded to a 16″ wheeled Early Rider.
Then suddenly, a few months before she turned five, Claire quit riding altogether. She flat-out refused to so much as sit on her own bike. She loved riding behind me pedaling her Burley trailer bike. We spent hours raking trails, pulling holly, and closing braids on Fromme. She loved helping me work on bikes, particularly with pressing in headsets and threading in bottom brackets. I have no idea what caused her anxiety around handling a bike herself.
For our purposes, mountain biking with your kid, this story starts back up around Claire’s 6th birthday. She had outgrown her 16″ wheeled bike and showed the opposite of interest in riding, but we felt that as a life skill, we had to keep trying. I made no assumptions at all about mountain biking, I don’t think kids need to pursue the same interests as their folks – evidenced by the fact Claire plays hockey – but riding bikes as a family, as we had been doing, was a priority.
With the Covid shortages acquiring a 20″ bike was harder than I understood it would be, and I ended up importing an Early Rider from the UK. Claire was très excitant to build it; she was less stoked when it came time to ride the thing.
Claire and I would take the Early Rider down to the large, flat, parking lot of the local high school and I’d just push her around on it. As long as I maintained some amount of contact she was fine but as soon as I let go she would slam on the brakes and put her foot down. It was hard, for both of us. Lots of hugs.
Then suddenly, one day, out of the blue, she was pedaling. Spinning along in a low gear, with a massive smile on her face. Around the parking lot, up onto the sidewalk, oh, oh F*CK, no, the curb! I was frozen silent but already running full tilt with no chance of catching her in time. But Claire just bumped off the square curb, turned her bike, and without stopping yelled as loud as Claire had, or has, ever yelled anything “I AM SUPER CLAIRE!!!!!” Then she did it again, and again, and again, and again. I just stood there and watched her go in circles with every round ending with a *thunk-thunk* off the concrete.
I ran home behind her, doing all the watching for cars, while she spun away in ecstasy with that giant grin on her face. That same day Claire asked me if she could try mountain biking, and we’ve never looked back. By the next summer, she was confidently riding light-blue trails and we took our first family trip to Cumberland.
Tow Ropes Are For You, Not Them.
Moving at the speed of a six-year-old beginner learning to mountain bike is not something that came to me naturally. That’s the parent’s problem to deal with. I don’t consider myself a particularly patient person. So when I remind Claire and myself that “Attitude Is Everything” it’s just as often a reminder for me as it is for her.
But every time I see someone being towed up Fromme, Thornhill, Woodlot, etc. I think of all the amazing trails we’ve ridden that are accessed by single-track. I think of Claire’s first time, at our second Cumberlandworx, riding up to Blueprint, and the groundwork for that starts with letting your kid get to wherever they can under their own steam.
Andrew, you asshole, what about folks with two or three kids trying to get them all out there? I’ve been hit with strawpeople so many times in the last few years over motors and tow-ropes that I could have been feeding a flock of sheep. MEATengines Merino for everyone? Of course, there are exceptions to every rule. Yes, you do you. Best life. But, I can’t unsee the many more parents I’ve witnessed towing their kid behind their bike than parents trying to juggle a ride with multiple kids of different abilities. Heck, I’ve seen significantly more parents towing a single kid, or teen, behind a motor-assist-ized rig than parents trying to juggle a ride with multiple kids of different abilities.
Not only that, but I’ve broached this subject with the only friends I know who tow rope(d) religiously, and, as small as my sample size is, they’ve admitted quite openly that their patience is the problem. It’s not that I don’t appreciate where they’re coming from, the first time we rode Bobsled it took forever and a handful of gummy bears to get there. We also spent more time breaking than braking on the way down. But I believe that forgoing the tow rope was an investment of time that has paid us back extensively.
They Have To Learn To Love To Climb.
I’ve only told Claire one lie – or maybe I can downgrade it to a technical untruth – about mountain biking. But I’ve repeated it enough times, and believe it so strongly myself, and she’s bought in so hard, that I’ll justify it all day, every day. Word for word:
“Claire, if you want to love mountain biking, you have to learn to love to climb.“
Claire loves to grind. This summer she completed the No Quarter Climb, with some walking, up to the 6th switchback on Fromme and no one had to tell her that was rad, because she knew, straight-up. She’s done it a few times now and I mention it because it’s so important to note that she’s earned that ability. She’s earned it by climbing her bike up steep trails a couple times a week, almost every week of the year since she was six.
And sure, I know lots of folks who love to mountain bike and don’t particularly like going uphill. But we spend a lot more time pedaling up than riding down, and Claire’s having fun in both directions so kids or no kids, they might benefit from an attitude change as well.
Megatower Guy.
Don’t be Megatower Guy. That’s all I have to say about that… actually, here’s the thing. Mountain biking is expensive, and money is a barrier to participation, no doubt. But if you just have one full-on carbon super-bike think of all those hours you’re racking up on the suspension and that glaze you’re putting on the pads punting around in the woods with your grom. Not to mention having to drop your bike and charge forward to catch them when they stall on that rock-armoured uphill section they almost had the momentum to clean.
Consider buying a more basic hardtail, maybe something used as a project, or hell if you have the cash, build up a location-proper hardtail rig, you might learn to love it. Either way, I promise you’ll have more fun riding with your kid on something that better approximates their experience. Your bigger wheels are still going to roll over terrain better, but at least you’ll have some empathy for chunking down roots that don’t just disappear underneath your sag-wagon.
Why not just buy your kid a full-suspension bike as well? Assuming money’s not a barrier? I’ll talk more about my bike philosophy in 3/3 but if you scroll up, one factor is it’s easier, in terms of weight and out of the saddle efficiency, for a kid to learn to love to climb on a hardtail.
The Same Trail Again.
If you ever hear yourself saying something gloomy like “Really, you want to ride Sticks & Stones again?” then give yourself an attitude adjustment. It’s rad that your kid wants to ride and has an opinion on what trails to hit. I know this might all sound suspect coming from someone who rides the same trails every week, but what I love about those janky Shore routes is that I still notice myself improving and that’s the same thing your kid loves about hitting the same lines.
I know a fellow who’s ridden through the open stump on the Circuit-8 Green Loop trail so many times, on so many rides, that he calls the network “Ground Hog Day” but his kid is always 100% excited to go ride it, so pick your battles, right? Progression comes in fits and spurts, today it’s GHD for the hundredth time, tomorrow it’s bombing down Ned’s.
Find A Buddy.
If at all possible, try to arrange that your grom is semi-regularly riding with more people than just you. It’s a subtle way to boost their interest and their output. In my own experience, after a long week, when just Claire and I go riding on a Friday after school it’s always a short lap. But, she’ll dig so much deeper if we have a friend along.
Claire has a buddy named Derek who she met playing hockey. They’re the same age and of decently similar levels in terms of their ability to grind out climbs and the trails they’re happy to ride, and they just generally like hanging out. She is also always happy to go and patiently ride with less experienced kids, like her little cousin, and with riders who are much stronger than her, including a few of my adult riding friends who enjoy her company. It’s all good.
“We Have Lights.”
How do you know when they’ve truly caught the mountain bike bug? I suppose it’s simple enough to say that, in general, it’s when they’re eager to go, but in Claire’s case I can point to a specific moment. It was in the fall of 2020 and it was our last ride with Derek before daylight savings was due to kick in. We’d been getting dusky on our last few lower Seymour loops as it was and Derek’s dad, Gregg, was lamenting that we’d have to put our weekday rides on hold.
Claire just shook her head in the negative and said, “We have lights!” and Gregg said, “Okay, we’ll get lights too!”
Night riding is so awesome for kids. For one, it opens up the possibility to get out there and ride whether it’s a matter of when darkness hits, or you live somewhere that it’s too hot to ride during the day for part of the year, or riding is just the thing that has to be squeezed in around everything else.
But the best part is that night riding is a unique experience. It’s a story that elicits disbelief from peers and adults alike. It’s strange and exotic, and it’s a great way to hit refresh on tamer trails that were past favourites. Many of our most fun rides have been in the dark and while I recommend night riding to everyone, I recommend it doubly to parents trying to get their groms going.
20″ Bike Subtext
I’ve written a bunch about Claire’s 20″ and 24″ rigs, so I won’t get too into the gear side here but, well, get good pedals. The only ones I personally recommend for little shredders are the Chromag Radar pedals but there are other options including ones that are much less expensive. Just remember, more grip means less slip and less slip means fewer ouchies. I recommend 7iDP kids armour as being long enough to negate most pedal-pin contact and great to ride in, but again other pad choices exist that are similarly long and good for pedaling in.
I also recommend sticking with a rigid fork for your 20″ bike. It will be significantly lighter, and the little wheels can only get going so fast and roll over so much gnar anyway. Combine that with some comfortable grips. I know I’m a push-on grip evangelist but they really give you the most squish for a given width and that’s the win here. Trim the handlebars as necessary and throw out everything you know about tire pressure. For reference, at around 65lbs, Claire’s currently running 13-14psi in her 24×2.4″ Minion DHF tires.
3/3
I maybe should have broken these down into more pieces, but I’m riding this bull now. Next up I’ll talk about our interesting transition from 20″ to 24″ wheels up to where we’re at today.
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this piece please consider buying me a coffee. Any questions, concerns, or comments please feel encouraged to drop me an e-mail, or join us at r/MEATengines.
Wrenching With Kids Subset
Pressing in headsets is the best.
