Kids on wheels

Want to help your child get in shape? Put him or her on wheels.

I'm outdoors a lot and everywhere I go, I see fit, healthy kids being active and having fun. Especially when they're on wheels, and especially bicycle wheels.

Recently, Marilyn and I have been on a couple of adventures where we were literally surrounded by kids on bikes.

Earlier this summer, we rode the Cape Cod Rail Trail on our tandem bike and saw dozens of families biking together. Some had tiny tots in trailers or special bike seats. They were learning to love motion before they even learned to walk. Then there were the little ones pedaling enthusiastically on trailer-cycles, tag-alongs, tricycles, and training wheels. Finally there were the 'tweens and teens out riding on their own bicycles, often far outdistancing a puffing Mom or Dad.. 

Even if you have little or no bike equipment, you can still take your kids out and get them hooked on bicycles. Several bike shops along this popular trail rent every possible means of getting kids on bikes. If you relax and enjoy it, chances are they will, too.

The whole concept of kids on bikes gets pushed to the limit at Pedro's Mountain Bike Festival. This annual, family-oriented event is held in July in Lanesboro, Massachusetts. Last year, we saw some babies in trailers, and some tots on training wheels. Everywhere we looked there were lots and lots of kids having fun on their own bikes. They could pound the mountain bike trails or pump up their adrenaline levels in the BMX (Bicycle Moto Cross) course.

Just piloting my hardtail mountain bike over a tight woodland trail without hitting a tree generates plenty of adrenaline for me. This BMX stuff is light-years beyond that.

Using carefully sculpted piles of dirt as their launch pads, the BMXers would pedal to gain speed, then hop, bounce and huck their way around the track. The apparent goal seemed to be to spend as much time airborne as possible.

It was a beautiful thing to watch as the (mostly) young and (mostly) male riders performed amazing feats on shock-absorber equipped bicycles. And you know what? There wasn't a single overweight kid to be seen. How could there be when the kids were expending calories launching themselves and their bikes over and over again?

BMX for everyone

If you want to inspire some kid in your life, chances are there's a BMX course somewhere near you. You can always start at your local bike shop. Even if there isn't a "formal" BMX track around, chances are they know of local dirt piles where BMX bikers play.

The general consensus among the BMXers I talked to is that the best BMX park in the northeast is Rye Airfield in Rye, New Hampshire.

I also heard good things about the four established BMX tracks in Connecticut -- in Bethel, Meriden, Torrington, and Trumbull.

Massachusetts has tracks in Middleboro and Wakefield. Go to the National Bicycle League for info and directions to these and other tracks.

Near Albany, NY, the Tri-City BMX is apparently a good one.

Kids young and old

Before I had seen a BMX course, I'd dismissed it as one more thing that kids do, and which adults would be stupid to try. But, as always, there's opportunity for everyone, even the old and cautious. I probably looked ridiculous on my turns around the BMX track at the Pedro Fest, but I learned something. While the kids around me were launching, I learned how to negotiate the bumps and rolls more confidently and keep my wheels on the ground.

A few days later, my path on a trail near my home was blocked by a large dirt pile. In the past, I've always stopped and carried my bike over such an obstacle. This time, I maintained speed, rolled up and over. Yep, my heart did a little flip-flop as I cleared the top, but I made it. A short while later, I did the same thing where a bike trail crosses a waterbar on the local ski slope. I could have launched but didn't. I still got a shot of adrenaline. Who says only kids can have fun with BMX?

Kid wheels

There are so many options these days for getting kids on bikes before they can ride alone. For the really tiny, there are trailers which bounce happily along behind Mom or Dad's bike, and appear, at least to me, safer than the bike seats which have kids sitting up high. Tag-alongs ands trailer cycles (which attach to your bike and let the little one pedal even if they can't balance a bike), and child stoker setups for tandem bicycles let kids feel like they are doing part of the work. And then, of course, there are tricycles and training wheels. You can get kids totally hooked on the fun of pedaling long before they can balance a two-wheeler.

One of the most complete line of trailers and trailer cycles I've found is from Burley, a company whose products I trust. I ride one of their tandem bicycles and use one of their cargo trailers for bike touring. Trek, another reputable company, makes both quality kid bikes and tag-alongs.