Mountain Biking: Family Mountaing Bicycling

I take my 8- and 13-year-old nephews and my 14-year-old niece mountain biking, and it's given me a new appreciation for the joy of riding a bike. Really. It totally reminded me how much fun biking is when you're not thinking about your pace or heart rate and it's ok to stop and pick flowers or whatever.

 Each of those 3 kids is at a totally different level in the biking thing. The 14-year-old is in the best shape, but is always really nervous about every tiny obstacle and every downhill. I find that it is good to have another grown-up so that kids at a higher level don't have to wait for the two of us. And I ride behind her the whole way, giving encouragement and tips and letting her know she is doing great. She always has a lot of anxiety during the ride but feels so proud afterwards and wants to go again. She plans to join her high school mountain biking team, so she'll have a coach soon and will probably start kicking my butt.

The 13-year-old is the opposite story; he always rides waaay too fast for his skill level, clears some amazing obstacles (via sheer momentum, I think) and crashes a lot. (It's probably easier to be nonchalant about all that road rash as the kid's uncle -- I'm sure it's a different story as a parent!)  So I try to reign him in, which isn't always easy. On downhills, I make him ride just behind me, and i try to demonstrate the many benefits of actually being in CONTROL of your bike. He is doing better, and had a blast at his first kids' race a couple months ago.

The youngest is simply a natural at the sport -- he just pedals away, and if something's too hard for him he gets off and walks, no big deal.

 Anyway, here are a few tips from my experience:

• Keep it FUN, and not too hard at first (obvious, right?) ...but don't underestimate her, either
• All of the kids I know liked singletrack exponentially more than fire trails
• They didn't mind hills nearly as much as I thought they would
• On narrow trails, avoid prime riding times -- my nephew almost got mowed down by some jerk 
• Aim for an hour of riding, and plan some fun stops for snacks, picnicking, rock skipping, etc. Bring extra food.
• Be emotionally prepared for your kid to crash. I bet this is way harder for you with your own kid than me with my sisters' kids...
• Act totally shocked at how awesome the kid masters some particular skill (you probably won't have to act at all -- it can be shocking!)
• All of my kid riding buddies are totally into fun drills like "let's see how slow we can ride without actually stopping," "how fast can we get to that tree," and "let's practice 'Attack Position'" (they all think Attack Position sounds very cool)

CTM404's bullets are great.

Food is always a welcome break, and something that I often have trouble remembering.

Teaching skills is also a really cool idea..I liked the game concept.

 I have taken my sons and a bunch of their buddies on some easier trail around here.  Sequencing problems to match their skills is really important to being successful.  One of my 13 year olds buddies was doing so well, I thought he had more skills than he actually had.  He ended up going over the handle bars and has not ridden since.

Bringing friends overall has really helped me with both my sons.  I am not the cool uncle, but just dad.  The enthusism of their peers has with the one exception above been a great motivator.

Good luck and keep on pedaling

I got my 8 year old son a Giant Boulder this summer and we've been out riding some beginner trails here in NE OH.  He's big for his age and has been slowly building some basic skills for the trail when we ride around the neighborhood. We work on getting the front wheel up over curbs and basic bunny hops while riding in the school parking lot - this translates directly to improved riding over the obstacles on the trail.  Also, take the time to video them riding - kids love to see themselves doing new things like that.

  It's a lot of fun riding with him, though it shifts the ride into a whole new (much slower) gear.

 Of course his focus is learning how to jump and get "big air".  Good Lord, what have I got myself into...

 Steve Z