Ugh…sorry you had to experience that, but it’s all over. im not much of a poster here these days, but my now 16 year old boy* spent 10 years on the back of our kid adapted tandem(s) // we live in a rural part of Western Mass and i was glad at all the stupidity hurled in our direction, as well as the genuinely lovely things and gestures people made when they’d see us riding, both here and when we’d take the tandem into NYC.
I taught my boy that i believe in non-violence but that i make exceptions [yes i’m a [benign] (cycling) sociopath who likes parentheses). And sometimes i modeled less than stellar behavior back at the yellers. But i have no regrets. It’s part of being a parent. It was a learning opportunity for both of us, i was able to say ‘let’s come up with some good responses that run the gamut’ and also to explain that we could get killed at any minute, any time, not just from hostile jerks. And i taught him how to use a mirror, how to say peculiar things, how to say nothing, how to wave inappropriately as if deranged [that’s one of the best strategies, a super enthusiastic wave, as if it’s your long lost grandpa in the car]. And also, using the mirror, the excellent Grant P strategy of moving a little awkwardly as they come up behind you, so they give you a slightly wider berth. I rode my kid on the back of a tandem every day for many years when he was especially young, and in addition to being hassled by drivers, was hassled by cops a few times. It became a math lesson too, what % of drivers were fine VS % that hassled us, and that was a way to de-escalate for us. And we practiced a few times emergency ditching, crashing the tandem, etc. So mostly it was great opportunity to show not tell, and the unmediated kid raising time on the bike was and is the best time we have together. Go forth and ride w your kiddos, and the best piece of safety equip i have is a mirror. Oh, and I like a stainless steel bottle. Just in case. * he now rides a Bruce Gordon barn find which was too big for me /and is sometimes the stoker on the back of our Riv tandem wherein he tries to break the speed limit [he rows crew, does MMA, and builds stone walls; is super strong] Ron, Western MA On Monday, October 1, 2018 at 4:36:01 PM UTC-4, Kevin Mulcahy wrote: > > My 4.5 year old son rides on the back of our cargo bike to/from daycare, > about 4 miles each way. Madison is a great place to ride a bike, and we > have a really nice route along some scenic and low-traffic streets. Last > week, a motorist caught up to us about a block after we rolled through an > unoccupied 4 way stop at the end of a little hill. We always roll through > this intersection; everyone does. Well, so this guy pulls up next to us and > and just screams, "YOU'RE SETTING A BAD EXAMPLE FOR YOUR KID!" and then > speeds off. > > Yeah, so afterwards me and my son had a pretty good conversation about how > to appropriately display your emotions. As a four year old, that's a lesson > he's heard before, but I think it was nice (in a way) for him to see how > ugly it can be. My son also drew a connection with a book he was reading > about Star Wars and how Yoda teaches about how fear and anger lead to the > dark side. So... I think he got it. :) > > That all being said. We're lucking enough to have a nice route, but I > really try to avoid sketchy/ high traffic roads, even ones with bike lanes. > It just kinda kills the vibe. We've also have had many good interactions > with motorists, even back when he was in a trailer. Someone once yelled at > me (which was weird) something like, "Your trailer is really visable, I > love the lights! You're a great dad!" That really made my day! > > Kevin > In Madison, WI > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
