Overland with Kids

Andrew bought a bike several years ago in London which still serves him well and Jessica and little Andrew (AJ) have always had bikes. Anne is really keen on cycling locally around our town and around the block etc. but has never owned a bike in her entire whole life -not even as a little girl. For Anne - use of a bike was either begged or borrowed and today uses either Andrew’s or our local Recycling Centre rejects which she is getting sick of as have been uncomfortable for her height to say the least.  Anne is quite tall - 5′ 10.5 without shoes. With trainers, Anne is pushing almost 6ft and is sick of her posture being squashed, legs being bent and generally not being able to enjoy the same benefits as the rest of her family so she’s bought herself a new bike for the big trip - a ‘hybrid’ they call it - which is a cross between an on road (regular) and off road (mountain) bike. Anne was content on popping into Halfords to buy the cheapest she could find as long as the seat and the bicycle frame height were right. However, under Andrew’s instructions, she visited the local bicycle shop in town and was smitten with quality, care and range - duly falling in love with a Claud Butler 20″ frame hybrid Urban Comfort with mud guards and a rack on the back for those all important picnics. The remit being that she wanted something she could ride daily on road for excercise as well as in the park with the kids but something she could take away for our trip that we wouldn’t be worried about it being stolen in the long run - so cost was also important. However, most important was a bike suited to her height and she has had to buy a man’s bike which she feels more comfortable with anyway. The result being that Anne spent slightly more than originally budgeted (Andrew’s fault for recommending course of action!) and is really pleased with her purchase and has also treated herself to some flashing night lights.  We are just waiting all fitments to be made and bike will be ready in a week.  The long and short of it is (notice the pun!), that there is nothing like the personal attention of a specialist cycling shop that you can’t get in a large store for these type of things. We did have an original budget for all/any of us that needed but Anne has just about blown the entire budget and both the kids and Andrew will have to use what they already have which should be OK without having to replace - as, we recently replaced the children’s bikes when they had outgrown their previous and upsized these already in the process.  The only consideration we didn’t make at the time was potential off roading but we think they’ll manage fine - they’ll have to now! But, another budget/cost consideration to be accounted for.

Diary (Blog)