If COVID lockdowns have taught me anything, it’s that you can have an adventure anywhere, even familiar places. Many people chose to run every street in their town, or camped in their garden/different rooms in their house to make the situation seem more adventurous and exciting. Many of us have been pleasantly surprised with what we have discovered. So as my daughter begins to ride her balance bike and we continue to cycle together as a family, we feel that a challenge might be the catalyst to spark a sense of adventure and exploration together.
My daughter has turned two this month and she has developed a real passion for cycling. She loves to be a passenger on one of our bikes, but she also loves to ride her balance bike. As parents of a healthy child, parenting is still surprisingly hard work, so we can only imagine what it’s like when everything doesn’t get off to the perfect start. That’s why we’ll be taking part in the Sudocrem Cycle More 90km cycling challenge, raising money for the premature baby charity Ickle Pickles. I can only imagine that Sudocrem are sponsoring this challenge as its product is not only used for nappy rash, but also a go-to for many chaffed up cyclists recovering from ambitious rides.
The aim of the challenge is to cover 90km and enjoy cycling together as a family, the other rules are kind of up to you and your family situation. As our daughter has only just turned two, tracking solely her balance bike rides until it gets to 90km is going to be quite a hassle and perhaps a bit unfair for her. So we aim to track the distance she travels by bike, either on her balance bike, but mostly on one of our bikes. We expect it to take a week or two to clock up the 90km, but will leave the time frame open to allow for some relatively good weather windows. We do after all want our daughter to enjoy the freedom and adventure that comes with cycling. So those are our rules, we will be raising money for charity using Virgin Money and will summarise what we’ve learnt about cycling together as a family once we’ve completed the challenge. If you want to do something similar you can find all the info here: The 90km Challenge – Sudocrem UK
As any parent knows there is a balance to be struck between actually completing a task, and keeping your child happy and engaged. So we hope to treat the 90km as a series of child friendly adventures, exploring different parks, paths, cycle networks and stumbling upon some interesting things along the way. I also expect to be cheered along with a “Faster faster Daddy” as we try to overtake the occasional club cyclist. And then we’ll probably be overtaken again as we get to a hill or stop for a picnic. However we will also play some games, perhaps try our hands at “Strava Art” and try and find things beginning with: I C K L E P I C K L E S. I’m sure we’ll learn something along the way (most probably that Strava Art is quite hard with a toddler).
The reason I fell in love with cycling was not because I felt a desire to be faster than anyone else, or wanted the latest lightweight carbon parts, none of that mattered. I loved it because it was freedom and adventure. I think I could do to rekindle a bit of this, as we often forget why we still do some activites. I want to nurture the same sense of fun, freedom and adventure in my child. So she too can appreciate and remember fondly the things we did together. No matter how small an adventure it may seem for me, it’s a big one for her, and through her eyes it becomes a big adventure for me again. So if you’re looking for a bit of a challenge to get you started for the year then this might be just the thing, and you can do it with your family too: The 90km Challenge – Sudocrem UK
