Great Training Tips to Ease your Family into Biking Tours
To paraphrase a quote: the family that rides bike tours together stays together. Maybe that is not quite how the saying goes, but a family biking tour certainly can be a whole lot of fun. However, to get maximum enjoyment from a full family tour on the bikes, it is important to get in proper training. Here are a few training tips that can help the members of your family to fully enjoy your first biking tour together.
The first thing all the members of your family need to remember is that you are not only training your lungs and legs, but also your entire body. You will be spending more time on a bicycle seat than you are used to, so everyone will need to be just as prepared in that aspect as in any other. Even the most in shape athletes will discover new types of soreness if not properly prepared for a bike tour.
You’re not just training your legs and lungs – you’re also getting used to spending lots of time on a bicycle seat. Even if you’re in shape, hours of riding will make your body sore if you aren’t prepared.
If your family members have not done a lot of biking, then a good first step can be to get used to riding your bicycle in a touring situation. Start with short, one hour, rides in areas where there is not a lot of traffic. Stay at a pace with which you are comfortable and just get used to the bike. This is also a good chance to see if there are adjustments your bike needs in terms of the handlebars or seat. When you get your family ready for a biking vacation, you can be certain that everyone will have a good time and when you take children, you know that you need to prepare everyone.
Next, you should lengthen the rides. Ride for a little more than an hour and take to hills in the area. This will give you a chance to get used to shifting the gears and seeing how to handle those hills. Check to see how far you are able to make it in an hour so that you can really plan out the family tour.
Continue to lengthen your daily rides and continue to experience hills and other terrain you may encounter on your tour. When you increase both your distance and time on the bike, you are going to be able to enjoy a longer and more relaxed bike tour as a family. Each week, you should increase your distances and your times so that you can ride around 40 miles in less than four hours.
Once you can do that, you should start to add weight. After all, you are going to have to carry supplies. Put bags on the bike and try riding again. This will allow you to experience carrying weight. You may even want to take one half day ride as a family to a picnic or something to see how you do on a one day experience.
Once you are in shape as a family and have an idea of what you can do on a daily basis, it is time to plan your trip. Plan a tour that all can handle and that all will enjoy. Before you know it, you will be the bicycle tour family that is laughing and staying healthy together. All you have to do is know how to prepare and how to plan. You can be sure that a biking vacation with the entire family is something that everyone will love and will remember for a very long time to come.
