Biking can be an inexpensive, fun, physical activity that can provide hours of summer fun for us and our children. It’s exciting to bike new trails, roads and go on adventures. This year marked an exciting milestone in our house; our two oldest children finally dropped the training wheels. This has meant further biking, and biking as a family, instead of walking beside them! With our littlest safely buckled in behind my husband, we go biking on the PPJ path, we bike to visit people, we bike to get ice cream – it’s really a great activity for the whole family!
Like everything else, with that fun comes a few important safety concerns. Teaching our children the rules of the road, dressing them in bright and visible colours, sticking to roads that have room for bikers and wearing bicycle helmets are some of the steps we can take to keep them safe while on the road. I’ve found myself yelling at everyone from the back of our line up, “stay near the grass, a car is coming”, “stop before turning” and so on.

Allowing your children to bike on their own is actually quite nerve racking – it’s hard to trust them to follow the rules of the road when they are so young. We go over rules of the road before each bike ride and yes, yell out reminders during the whole trip! Biking on the trails eliminates a lot of these worries and is my absolute favourite place to bike!
The most important equipment for biking is the helmet. We need to insist that our children wear their helmets each and every time they get on a bike, whether it is for a short trip, a day of biking or even when in the bike seat behind Mom or Dad. Making helmet wearing a routine and part of the process from the start is your best bet to no fights over having to wear a helmet. Next up we need to ensure that we replace all helmets that have had a direct impact. Unlike other types of helmets, bike helmets are only made to protect against one impact and should be replaced after they received any significant impact, like from a fall. (We should also take extra care not to throw our helmet around which could cause similar damage.)
Here are some great safety tips when considering a helmet:
-When buying a helmet always look for the CSA certification which means that the helmet has met the requirements of Canada’s National Standard for Bicycle helmets.
-Proper fit is something which can be difficult to achieve. Children should never wear a hat or cap under their helmets. Helmets should fit snuggly and should not move when your child shakes his or her head side-to-side or front to back.
-Helmets should sit level on your child’s head and should not be tilted forward or back exposing their foreheads or the back of their heads. (Toddlers should be wearing toddler specific helmets which provide added protection at the back or their heads.)
-Helmets should sit level and should cover their foreheads- resting about two fingers above their eyebrows. The side straps should form a V around your child’s ears and the chin strap should always be buckled and tight enough that you can only fit one finger between the strap and their chin.
-If you are having difficulty finding a helmet or are unsure of the fit don’t hesitate to ask a professional at a bike shop for help.
-One last safety tip is to ensure your children remove their helmets once they get off their bikes. Children should not climb trees or play structures while wearing any kind of helmet in case they get hung up and the straps get caught.
Here in the Pontiac there are some exciting events coming up this summer that you can take part of if you are interested in biking, or it’s something you’ve been meaning to start with your family. “Les amis du Cyclopark PPJ” have three exciting events happening this summer, promoting our amazing bike path! On Saturday, July 28th there will be bikers and hikers leaving Shawville heading towards Campbell’s Bay. There will also be a best-dressed bike contest happening, the registration for that happens in Shawville at 10:30 before the biking to Campbell’s Bay begins! For more information on this event, check out their ad in THE EQUITY or on Facebook. This would be such a fun activity for children to participate in and the organizers of these events are allowing us the opportunity to see our beautiful surrounding areas and neighbours as a group and by bike. If you are interested definitely check them out in THE EQUITY and on Facebook for more information on their exciting upcoming events, and congratulations to the hard workers on such an amazing feat! Don’t forget to stay safe when you do join them for these exciting bike tours by having water on hand, snacks and of course a good helmet.
Enjoy these beautiful summer days with your family!