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I do a bit of both with my son, but I try and take him to kindergarten or pick him up as much as I can on the bike. It’s not far, but it’s also during school drop off time for everyone else as well... which means distracted parents in cars.
Related, saw this going out of the door at a friends shop today. So into it.
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the road type I feel the least safe on is the single-lane rural A or B road linking towns together
I totally agree with this. Maybe it’s my inexperience but cycling outside of London seems more often than not totally inhospitable to me. I might do it if I’m on my own or with a friend but feel severely hampered by the insecurity of it when wanting to go anywhere with my son. When I’ve had to we are often restricted to pootling along on the pavement - which i find is often about 5inches wide and in a bad state- until it vanishes randomly before reappearing further down the road.
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MCamb
@fizzy.bleach
This conversation might do better in its own thread or there might be a specific thread for this type of chat. There are people.on here with good knowledge about cycling advocacy.
But there are real perception issues about utility cycling. Even tho I've been cycling in urban areas for 15 years, I still lose confidence occasionally. Was one car away from a big crash a few weeks ago, for example. If I'd been 20 metres up the road, my son and I could well be dead or seriously injured because of another driver's bad judgment.
Choosing routes carefully is a big part of it. Unfortunately, the road type I feel the least safe on is the single-lane rural A or B road linking towns together. That applies when I'm on a road bike as well as when cycling my son around. Cars tend to bomb down them because they can, and they don't expect cyclists to be there slowing them down.
What kind of routes would you be taking a kid on around you? Is it purely functional A-B travel or more leisure riding?