Mini Greenroofer says that she wants to do Pedal for Scotland this year. She will be 10 by then. She's never ridden more than 9 miles in one go before.
Is this a reasonable ambition? If so, how do we prepare for it?
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Questions/Support/Help
Pedal for Scotland advice
(120 posts)- Started 9 years ago by Greenroofer
- Latest reply from paddyirish
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Posted 9 years ago #
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Take longer trips out the canal? Build up the distance. 50 miles quite far for ten year old. Tandem?
Posted 9 years ago # -
Mr SRD and Recombodna are planning on taking their 8yos along. Also debating training/practice. Would be good to share experiences.
Not sure about canal as training though. Too flat. MiniSRd needs to work on her hill technique / attitude.
Posted 9 years ago # -
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15 Sep 2008 - Uploaded by Mark Kiehlmann
Patrick (age 5), 50 miles down, only 5 to go, on the Pedal for Scotland bike ride between ....
Pedal for Scotland Glasgow to Edinburgh Cycle - 2010
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2013 P4S Sportive Patrick 110 miles at 10 yrs
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Posted 9 years ago # -
@Greenroofer. Hankchief did it last year with one of the little chiefs. IIRC he added a further little chief at Kirkliston for the final push in the Murrayfield. All on the Helios.
Posted 9 years ago # -
@SRD - interesting, so you (or Mr SRD!) reckon it's possible and so does chdot (I paraphrase the videos he's put up!).
I concur about the canal: it's good to start off with, but it's difficult keeping up a steady speed and there are no gradients. The challenge is to get some road miles in with ups and downs and stuff.
Probably need a bit of a training plan, though...
Posted 9 years ago # -
Come off the canal and cycle into almondell country park it is full of Tarmac going up and down hills?
Posted 9 years ago # -
MiniSRD's done 25 miles on her small bike without any difficulty, so pretty sure she can hack a longer distance now that she's got a big bike (24" wheels). But definitely planning some training runs.
If your 10yo is keen I'm sure she'll be fine. 8yo is enthused, but not all that keen on the training. We'll see how it goes.
she spent all weekend watching races though and is over the moon about ToB, so hopefully that will translate into enthusiasm for the non-spectator sport too.
Posted 9 years ago # -
@Biketrain - you are quite correct. See this post for more details.
As you have seen above and as I saw last year, it is doable with kids.
My recommendations would be (and this isn't meant to be patronising)
1. Make sure YOU & THEY are comfortable/fed/watered. Much easier dealing with whatever gets thrown at you when you're not hungry/tired/sore etc. Same goes for them but you'll need to be looking after you both and making sound executive decisions.
2. Set off early - more time to deal with whatever happens. We went for a later start thinking we'd avoid the rush and got to Glasgow green about 10am and there was no atmosphere as it was just dribs and drabs starting.
3. Concentrate on the descents - they are much more concerning than the uphill. Major lumps are near Avonbridge.
4. Some sections are one side of a B-road with cones
down the middleon your side of the road. Can make it quiet narrow so watch that they keep it straight or ride just outside them to create some rolling protection for her.5. Linlithgow is a nice setting for a picnic (much more space than avonbridge). We used it as a decision point for our trip. Mrs Hankchief (or Hankchief's Chief as she would like to be called) met us there so we had multiple options depending on how the day was going. Fortunately all was going well so we picked up the littlest HC for the childseat.
6. Enjoy the day. Take time to soak up the atmosphere at the feedstops - it's not all about getting to the end. Mine enjoyed the people watching, and the littlest comprehensively raided the snacks at Kirkliston - hungry work that childseat.
7. DO IT. You'll both have a good time, and sounds like a few junior CCE'rs might be with you.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Couldn't see any participant in the information download not wearing a helmet. Are helmets mandatory?
Posted 9 years ago # -
Last time I checked they advised their use but it's the A89. They can't stop you riding on it.
Try to stop for cross traffic at the Coatbridge fire station roundabout. It's a bad enough bit of road at the best of times.
Posted 9 years ago # -
There was a boy of 10 did the Strathpuffer. The full thing, all 24 hours of it! Accompanied by his father throughout. I saw him while supporting Boyfriend Of Fimm but thought he was one of the team of 10 from the local school - I didn't realise he was a solo untill we watched the Adventure Show. It was his idea, and his dad was saying how surprised he was that his son had carried on and carried on (until he finally fell asleep in the warmth of the big tent at start/finish). I think he did 10/11 laps (at 10km a lap).
Posted 9 years ago # -
Kids can struggle with distances which are well within their normal range if they have had a recent illness. Something that's caught me out a couple of times.
Posted 9 years ago # -
6yr old climbing Bealach Na Ba
Shows what is possible with some training & good weather...
Posted 9 years ago # -
In 1986 did a pioneer ride Glasgow-Balloch on lack of a complete cycle path 7 y/o arrived and dad expected to drop him off with mum at Clydebank.
At Clydebank adults in group had to keep young person from pedalling away when we wanted a cake stop, so decision taken to let him do whole 21 miles, which he duly did.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Micro Greenroofer did 13 miles on the tagalong yesterday as we went on various PoP-related errands. He seemed quite ready to carry on. I think some of the time he wasn't pedalling, though: our EBC tagalong has no gears, so when I get the bike up to cruising speed, his pedals go round too fast for him to keep up.
Mini Greenroofer is now almost certain she wants to do PFS...
Posted 9 years ago # -
First ascent of Craighouse Road for Mini Greenroofer. So we need to work on climbing technique, road positioning, indicating and observation, but still it's good to see her powering up it (relatively speaking).
I was towing the tagalong up with an enthusiastic stoker who kept trying to stand on the pedals to get more power (or something). The EBC tagalong is a bit wobbly, and it's really quite tricky to tow it slowly up a steep hill while avoiding the back wheel of the bike in front. Hence the wobbles on the film...
#ProudDad.
P.S. YouTube is busy adding a soundtrack as I write, so you may find it's a silent movie in the meantime...
Posted 9 years ago # -
nice! I will show mini-srd -- it will give her a challenge
the cycle training she's been doing over Easter has given her a much better sense of things like road positioning, signalling*, shoulder checks etc
* given that she;s been stoking for 4 years, she's actually a very reliable signaller, but she doesn't always shoulder check.
Posted 9 years ago # -
A few motorbike lessons will drill that into her, SRD. :>
Posted 9 years ago # -
Good work mini Greeroofer. Get her onto Strava ;-)
Not much wrong with that signal IMHO - sometimes you just can't take your hands off the bars for very long.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Hmm, I have my first new commute up Craighouse Road this evening. I used to find that going up as far as Balcarres St was enough of a hill for me!
Posted 9 years ago # -
"I used to find that going up as far as Balcarres St was enough of a hill for me!"
Indeed!
C Rd is OK if you have reasonable fitness and low gears.
Posted 9 years ago # -
"C Rd is OK if you have reasonable fitness and low gears."
Hmmm. Don't have the former and today's bike's first gear is low 30s (inches) from memory which isn't very low in my book.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Think you'll qualify for "reasonable fitness".
"low 30s" fine for (most) Edinburgh hills.
Posted 9 years ago # -
@cb - speaking as someone who rides up that hill pretty much every weekday for the past five years, I can assure you that it never gets easier but it does get quicker...
The thing I've enjoyed doing over that time is see how I've become able do it in a higher and higher gear as time has passed. I would use Strava, but this segment is in my privacy zone so I can't track it (and anyway, all Strava does is burst my bubble of self-satisfaction by showing me that there's always someone doing it quicker than me [Uberuce, in this case])
Posted 9 years ago # -
A smaller event first, eg 2 capitals
Posted 9 years ago # -
MiniSRD is out doing her first attempt as we speak. Unfortunately, helmet cam not in operation.
Posted 9 years ago # -
I believe the appropriate cry is "allez miniSRD!"
Posted 9 years ago # -
@SRD If I'd know we could have nipped out and put some chalk on the road and formed a hollering crowd (of two or three, and between the parked cars) to recreate the true TDF experience.
Mini-Greenroofer did it again today on the way back from the allotment with Micro-Greenroofer on the tagalong. It really is quite tricky following her up the hill slowly with an enthusiastic stoker behind me. I don't like being too far back because I want to create some space around her, but the risk then is that I overtake her back wheel, with all the dangers of a combined spill that that represents if one of us wobbles.
Posted 9 years ago # -
So we've been doing some research about routes that we can use to train for PfS. One that seems quite tempting is to follow NCN 75 along the Airdrie to Bathgate cycleway and from there there's a choice of going onto the canal and following that home or heading south to Livingston on NCN 75 and thence to Balerno via Kirknewton.
These give us the chance to do some quite long rides to be sure that on the day we'll be reasonably confident of managing the distance.
So, do you know...
- Will we get two bikes on the train on a Sunday morning from EDB to ADR. Do they have good bike storage and is it likely to be busy?
- Is the Airdrie - Bathgate railway path any good
- The CycleStreets Route through Dechmont to Broxburn seems to be beside a busy road (A89?). Is that cycle route rideable with a 10-year old. I don't want to find myself on a dual-carriageway by accident!
- Is the back road through Kirknewton to Balerno likely to be reasonably quiet on a Sunday morning? Again, suitable for an accompanied 10-year old
- Is the canal beyond Ratho reasonably rideable? We've done the bit between the end of the tarmac and Ratho a couple of times, but not particularly enjoyed it on unsuspended bikes
Expert advice much appreciated!
Posted 9 years ago #
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