Center Parcs June blogger challenge is all about a family bike ride. I’m a Center Parcs Family Blogger and will be visiting Longleat village with my family. If you want to enter to win a place as a wildcard winner just go to the challenge page to find out how.
Center Parcs spokesperson, Sam Dowsing, has shared his tips on how you can make the most of your family bike ride. We were inspired by his tip “If your little ones are new to cycling, confidence and practice is key. I’ve found that concentrating on gliding, rather than peddling, helps children to balance in the early stages. Taking them to a park is a great, safe place to get them started on two wheels.” This is how we got on with the challenge…..
Riding bikes is one of those essential skills I would like my children to learn. However, with multiple small children I find it very difficult to get out with them on bikes for road safety reasons, you usually need one to one. Now my children are getting older, it is starting to get easier and in preparation for our holiday to Center Parcs, where will all be going on a bike ride together as a family, I thought I should take my two 4 yr olds out on their bikes so they have a chance to get used to them. This is how they got on.
When I suggested to Pinky and Boo on the way home from school, they could go for a ride on their bikes to the park, they were so excited! As soon as we got home, they were asking for their helmets. I quickly got their bikes out and off we went.
I had a quick talk to them first, telling them they had to go slowly and stay with me whilst we are near the roads, then when we get to the park, they can go off as fast as they liked. Pinky and Boo were happy with this and I am very pleased to say, they stuck to it. They rode slowly down the road, quite cautiously, then remembered to use their breaks to stop at the end. So far so good.
The only problem we did encounter, was crossing the road. I told them they had to walk the bikes across the road, but they found this very difficult, the stabilizers kept catching on their legs. But we finally made it across the two roads and they were off. 
We got to the park and they raced each other up and down the path, all very safely. It was wonderful to watch them gradually build their confidence on the bikes and get faster. 
Boo kept winning their races, as Pinky was more cautious. However, they both enjoyed it, laughing and giggling together.
After a while, they wanted to have a quick play in the playground of course. They had a go on the swings and for the first time I didn’t have to push them as they finally appear to have mastered the swings by themselves! The slide was a bit hot, so they opted not to do that. They played on their train and balancing logs. 
When it was time to go, they leapt straight on their bikes and raced each other to the end of the park. I must admit the walk home was a lot quicker than going!
It was lovely to see Pinky and Boo gain lots of confidence on their bikes in preparation for Center Parcs and in the future taking off the stabilizers at some point.