It’s no surprise that my children have become keen cyclists. It’s not something I’ve forced them into, it’s just something we do individually and as a family. Just as some families go skiing, or walking, or shopping at the weekend, we cycle.
Until recently our cycling trips would be off-road, unless cycling to school and back, but Christmas changed all that. Not only did my wife get a new bike from Santa, my daughter Maisie inherited my wife’s old road bike.
Much excitement ensued and Maisie was desperate to head out for her first ever road ride. It was obvious Tavish was disappointed that he wasn’t getting a new bike too, but I told him that I had set up a Strava account for him and his sister, so they would be able to record the miles they had done and their average speed etc. This excited him greatly and he was determined he was going to ride the furthest that day.
It took a while to get going – to her surprise Maisie didn’t take to the new bike as quickly as she thought she might. Previously used to the thicker tyres of an off-road bike, flat handlebars and a completely different operating system for gears it took her a few miles to get used to it, but before long she was flying along much to Tavish’s consternation.
He, despite being two years younger, has always prided himself on being a little mountain goat when it came to climbing up hills on his bike. On this occasion he found his sister champing at his back wheel as he sprinted to get up the hill first, but his smaller wheels and chunkier tyres were doing him no favours and the sibling rivalry was palpable at the top.
My wife and I soothed his wounded pride with some chunks of chocolate and soon we were on our way again, this time with Tavish making sure he was firmly placed at the front of our little peloton.
After 10 miles we arrived back home and excitedly uploaded everyone’s GPS data into Strava. Tavish was particularly pleased when he found that he had ridden fractionally more miles that anyone else in the family and was having none of my explanation that this was down to discrepancies in the GPS data between different recording devices.
He was also chuffed to bits to find he had ridden up most of the climbs a few seconds faster than both his sister and his mum.
A few weeks have passed since that ride and I’m now regretting the whole “Strava” thing as I have created two little “Strava-monsters” who now constantly want to go out on long cycles to “get the miles in”. It’s a different generation to the one when I would just go and ride my bike for the fun of it, but at least I can console myself that they’re keen.
Join the Blazing Saddles Strava Club at: www.strava.com/clubs/BlazingSaddlesWeekendCourier
Where to Ride? Ballathie – Kinclaven Loop
Distance: 10 miles
Start: OS Landranger 1 :50,000 Map 53 NO 099 385 Murthly
Suitable for: Road cycling
Description: This route follows the B9099 south towards Stanley before turning north again towards Kinclaven and Ballathie. This road can be a bit busier with traffic. At the Kinclaven junction turn left up the short climb towards Murthly again. There are a number of variations on this route including a longer detour via Meileour Beech Hedge returning to Murthly via Spitallfield and Caputh.
