Cycle Touring With School Children

Cycle touring with school children
Tips for adults organising and helping with tours

Cycle touring with children is very worthwhile. If you are a cyclist yourself, you will already know the pleasure of covering a decent distance, and getting a grandstand view of the area you are travelling in. Your means of transport is silent so you can enjoy the countryside all the more. There's also the feeling of independence which touring engenders. These notes are intended to encourage you to go right ahead and tour with children. Plenty of experience accumulated on our tours is included here to make your first tour as stress-free as possible. In nearly 20 years of touring weve certainly made plenty of mistakes and some of these are included in the text. Finally, if you are an adult who has volunteered to come on one of our tours, thank you1 I hope you have a great trip. Chris Boardman cdb@kes.bham.sch.uk +44 (0) 121 415 6038
Planning the ride..............................................................................................................2 During the ride................................................................................................................11 Problems on tour.............................................................................................................16 The practice ride.............................................................................................................21 Maintenance training day..............................................................................................23 Equipment .......................................................................................................................24
Cycle touring with groups of children
Planning the ride

Planning the ride
Ask yourself some basic questions to start with: Roughly how many days do you want to cycle for? This affects the choice of route although you don't of course have to complete an entire route. What kind of cost do you think your group can afford? This affects what accommodation and transport you can use. What age group will go? This affects the distances you can cover in a day (see later). Who might the adults be? You will need a team of people willing to come! In school I advertise the trip by letter to the target age group and include an invitation for parents to join us, and so far this has always worked. Most of the tours we have completed have followed a route designed by someone else and published as a map or leaflet. I tend to collect leaflets and route books for possible cycle tours and maintain a small library at home, which is where I begin in planning a route. See the references section for a list of publishers.
Numbers in the party

Although I have a minimum ratio of one adult to six children for cycling in general, we have for many years toured with a ratio of 1:4 or 1:3, reflecting the fact that more parents have been keen to join the group. Nowadays our tours are large, with 50-60 children and 25 or so adults, all divided into a dozen or so cycling groups. Inexperienced young riders are accompanied, in groups of about 4 children, by two adults. Children who have been on tour with us before and are 14 years and older, ride independently in groups of about 4, reporting by phone to an adult several times a day. Small cycling groups work well: you are much less likely to lose anyone, and you will get to know each child better and can support them better. In addition, delays are reduced: each extra cyclist will inevitably slow the party down a little more, with their own mechanical problems and need to stop for other reasons.
Distance
With junior pupils (aged 11-14) I aim for 35-45 miles a day. The key factor in making up your days is where the accommodation is. Longer days are certainly possible notably when the terrain is flattish, or later in the tour when the kids are accustomed to riding. These longer days are challenging for the kids but achievable. During ten days of riding in Holland I included three days close to 70 miles these started three days into the trip, were separated by shorter days and in each case there were shorter alternatives if the weather had proved against us. Pupils aged 15+ can cycle as much as an average adult 50 miles is fine, and if you are doing a long tour this can be increased into the 70s of miles weve cycled the Lands End to John OGroats route four times now, starting with a 40 mile day and increasing over the first five days to days in the 70s. Factors affecting your groups ability to ride a decent distance are: Fitness of each group member. Its important to do a practice ride some time before your main ride and give the group a typical days distance. Anyone finding that the day is desperately hard will then have the choice either of dropping out, or of improving their fitness level before the main ride. Weather a head wind will slow you down and sap your energy tremendously. Hills smaller kids find hills very challenging.
Surface a decent smooth surface is much faster and less tiring to ride on than a cobbled surface or off-road surface. Food a regular intake of food and drink is essential. Amount of kit carried see later for suggested kit.
Short first day

In planning your route, keep the distance on the first day less than the remainder, if possible. Often our first day is half the other days in distance and this is always reported on favourably by the kids. For a very long tour (2 weeks or more), keep the first few days shorter than the remainder, to build up a bit of stamina. People will also need to get used to the riding routine, fixing punctures etc at the start of the tour, which takes more time. It happened to us An informal tour from Lands End to John OGroats was planned by some sixth formers. We didnt have much experience of distance and it showed on a couple of occasions The first day turned out to be the longest 86 miles in gruelling heat, swooping down to beaches and climbing very strenuously back up to cliff tops. We arrived at 9pm in the dark at our hostel, fearful that the tour would prove too challenging. Luckily no day was harder than this first. Later we were finishing dinner at Bristol Youth Hostel and someone looked at the map of British Hostels on the wall. The distance between two of our hostels seemed very large and when we measured it, the distance proved to be 130 miles! There was no way wed achieve that with all our kit we had made a mistake in planning with measuring distances. We had to call all the accommodation to rebook, making the 130 mile day into two days. Fortunately everyone was able to fit us in one night later. The morals: (a) The first day needs to be half the normal distance, and (b) check your route planning carefully! have another adult check your plan.
Days off
Most of our tours have not had any days off, but there are a couple of reasons why you might include a day off in your tour: You may like to include occasional days or half days on a tour to allow visits to places of interest it is nice to break up a tour with added interest in this way. On a couple of occasions we have stayed at Legoland (in Germany and Denmark), and by having a halfday off, the children have really enjoyed several hours in the theme park. On a very long tour, i.e. two weeks or more, it is very handy to include a day off mid way through the tour, or perhaps even better, two half-length days. The benefit is that if you lose a day early on due to injury, maintenance problems or some other cause, you only need change your accommodation bookings as far as the day off. Thereafter you miss the day off, and have thus caught up on your schedule.
Maps
A purpose-printed cycle route map is ideal, and many routes now have them. Dont assume they are only printed by Sustrans (in the UK) there are plenty of leaflets produced by local councils which can be great (and often free). Some routes have guide books. These are worth taking if the route is printed inside, otherwise I tend to read them carefully and leave them at home to save weight. A great example is Lands End to John OGroats by Hornby a small book which fits in your cycle shirt pocket, has route maps for the whole route and information on places you are travelling through. This quality of book is definitely worth travelling with. Depending on the quality of your guide book / map you may not need to take a normal road map with you. We have found the Sustrans maps in the UK, specially printed for cycle routes, to be excellent and havent taken additional maps in this case. The only problem comes if you
have to stray off the intended route (perhaps to locate accommodation, or because there is a blockage in your path), when your diversion may not be on the route map. Lacking a good route map, a map of scale 1:50,000 is excellent for route finding. However if you are taking part in a major cycle tour of many hundreds of miles, you will be carrying far too many maps at this scale! You have a few options: Post maps ahead to your accommodation on the route which you can collect on arrival, and post used maps back home, or In the UK, the Philips Navigator series maps at 1:100,000 are ideal. Large regional sheets are priced at 7 and county maps at 4. The UK atlas costs 20; pages can be torn out or photocopied (see note below about copyright). Alternatively, use 1:250,000 mapping, which is the scale of standard UK road atlases, which can be bought for as little as 3. I have used these on the 1100 mile Lands End John OGroats route, in conjunction with a guide book. There were plenty of times when the mapping was confusing on tiny roads, but we coped. Tear out the relevant pages, and throw them away as you finish with them on the tour. In France and Holland 1:100,000 maps are ideal they show all the detail you need and are small enough scale that the sheet can be quite small. You'll still need quite a few maps for a decent sized tour though. An alternative is to buy the 1:100,000 atlas for the whole country, which only costs the same as about 2 maps. Its pages are a convenient size for ripping out and folding into cycle pockets.
Cycle-specific maps UK
Sustrans have designed lots of cycle routes with many traffic-free sections, purpose-built cycle bridges and other engineering to create wonderful multi-day leisure cycle paths with good surfaces and cycle-specific signposts. The quality of their routes is matched by their superb maps. We have ridden the Hull-Felixstowe route (quiet and often flat a good introductory tour) and the much hillier Coast to Coast and Lon Las Cymru routes. The National Byway is a 3300 mile signposted cycle route using peaceful rural roads throughout England and extending into Wales and Scotland. Some counties have published cycle routes, such as Northumbrias Cycling Kingdom and the Wiltshire Cycle Way, both of which we have cycled as school tours. There are established routes such as the Dales Way in Yorkshire Guide books have been published by Al Churcher, Nick Cotton, the AA, Collins and Ordnance Survey, although generally these cover day rides rather than multi-day routes.
Cycle-specific maps abroad

Esterbauer produce Cycline map-guides to many popular cycle routes in eight countries. Not all have text in English, but the mapping is very useful nonetheless. In Germany there is also a waterproofed strip-map format done by publicpress. Guide books are produced by Cicerone, Cordee, Esterbauer, Excellent Books, Cycling Resources and Lonely Planet, amongst many others.
Route planning software

If youre following a special cycle route such as the Sustrans routes in the UK then there is no need to do much more detailed route planning. The Sustrans maps have loads of detail, have a marker every mile and are backed up by good road signs. On the other hand if you are designing your own route, then route planning software can be very useful. It will at the least allow you to try several possible routes for a given day and tell you very easily what the various distances are. There are two types of software. Road route planners, such as Microsoft AutoRoute, are great for distances and relatively easy to use. They dont, however, give any information about gradient or amount climbed/descended.
Software based on 1:100,000, 1:50,000 or 1:25:000 maps is now available in several countries. This kind of software has all the contour detail and is therefore able to give you distance and height information. You should be able to get a printout of the profile of your route, for example. All types of software will produce a printed map specific to your route, at a scale of your choice. Software giving road information only Microsoft Autoroute Route 66 / Route 99 Route Finder Route Planner Software giving roads, bridleways etc plus contour information Anquet maps Memory Map Navigator
Global Positioning System (GPS)

During the ride you can choose to equip one or more adults with GPS receivers. This technology has been around now for several years and the dedicated GPS units are a mature and effective product. You can plan the route in advance either using specific software which comes with the unit, or general mapping software. Provided you are reasonably economical with the number of turns you show on the route, you can easily store a weeks routes on your GPS. Modern GPS units have colour displays and will show a road map of the area you are travelling in, so you can clearly see where you are. They are lightweight, robust and waterproof and batteries (usually 2 x AA) last for about two full days of riding. The units are especially useful if you have pre-ridden the route, since you can incorporate route changes, specific routes to accommodation and any off-road / track sections. We use Garmin Legend HCx units which cost approx. 120. A cycle mount which works in the same way as a bike light mount can be bought for about 12. You can buy Garmin MapSource software or alternatively Memory Map Navigator. Memory Map covers the UK, France, Belgium and the Netherlands, whereas MapSource provides pan-European maps. In addition Memory Map, since it provides so much more detail, costs more than Garmins MapSource. If you can afford both, it is far easier to plan a route on Memory Map since this shows full map detail. However the route will probably need to be imported to Mapsource for tidying up. This is because the GPS unit has a very limited memory for waypoints and every bend or junction you click on in Memory Map will create a new waypoint. A route planned on Garmins Mapsource only introduces new waypoints when you click to make a turn off a road. Any turns clicked on a road dont require a new waypoint. In practice, a 50 mile route planned on Memory Map is likely to be split up by the GPS unit automatically into several sections, and youll only be able to store a few days routes. To fix the problem you can create a route in Memory Map, benefiting from the map detail, and export as a GPX exchange file. Import this into the Garmin Mapsource software. Now move each bend or junction onto the road shown on Mapsource. Finally go through clicking on each redundant waypoint and delete it. Your route will be the same, but it will consume dramatically less memory on the GPS unit. Thus a full days ride will be one route, not many, and youll be able to fit 10 days worth of routes into the GPS memory. Theres no doubt that the GPS receivers have made the task of navigation easier and more reliable. Its important that every adult still carries printed maps and keeps an eye on these, but with the GPS unit youll have to puzzle over the map very rarely.
Accommodation
Look for group accommodation, such as youth hostels. The best place to get this information is Tourist Information Centres, which are gold mines of information. The internet is handy of course, but Tourist Information is more comprehensive not all accommodation is listed on the internet and its sometimes tricky to find phone numbers. Hostel accommodation is ideal they are used to groups, affordable and will usually have a specific place to store bikes. With groups hostels will provide bedrooms for the sole use of your party. You usually have the option of an affordable meal being cooked for you morning and evening, or cooking for yourselves. B&B accommodation is your next alternative. Although more luxurious they are much more expensive and this will significantly affect the cost of your tour, especially since you will have to go out to eat. Your group is likely also to have to split between a couple of B&Bs. Nevertheless we have stayed at several B&Bs and always had an excellent stay. Hotels are a pleasant luxury which we have enjoyed when there are no youth hostels. In France we stayed in hotels every night there are far fewer hostels in France and there are loads of really nice 2 star hotels to choose from. When booking, follow up your phone call with a formal letter to confirm the booking. You need to call the accommodation again about 10 weeks before departure to reconfirm your intention to stay. Dont forget to warn your youngsters to behave well (avoid charging around noisily and stay quiet after hours). Establish a rule about whether they can pop out to the shops unaccompanied by staff. And most especially, make sure that footwear is removed on entering the building oil stains can result otherwise. Also encourage your party to put panniers on the floor rather than beds for the same reason, and if the weather has been very wet, get hold of bin liners to place the panniers on. It happened to us Near Inverness a boy had a tyre blow-out, and we delayed for an hour while he walked to a town where we ate lunch. There was then a long delay while we used a taxi to travel to a cycle shop to get a new tyre. In heavy rain we then climbed a monster hill and after a long and slightly trying day, free-wheeled joyfully to our hotel. Sadly, the owner told us that since we hadnt re-confirmed by phone a few weeks before the trip, he had no rooms for us. To our great fortune a hotel opposite happened to have enough space for the 16 of us. The extra luxury more than compensated for the extra cost of 10 a head. In France, I had written twice, visited in person and sent a fax all to confirm a particular hotel. Id also changed my answerphone message to French to encourage any hoteliers to leave messages if there were any problems. Nevertheless when we arrived the hotel had had a much more lucrative booking and sold our rooms to a coach party. They claimed not to have been able to get through to tell us! However they had planned ahead and made some alternative rooms available, together with their chef ferrying half the party to a holiday flat five miles away. This booking ended up being fine we all had a superb meal in the hotel and we all had somewhere to stay. Plus I took 20% off the bill in the morning for their messing us around! The moral of both stories is regularly to stay in contact with the hotels (and coach/ferry companies) to confirm bookings.
Cycle Camping
For junior cyclists, I think twice before embarking on a week-long cycle-camping tour! The problems are: Substantial extra weight tent, sleeping bag, sleeping mat, food, stove, fuel Nowhere warm, bright and dry to recover in the evening. In general, the people Ive encountered over the years doing cycle camping have almost always been adults. Alternatively, slightly older children can cope well running their own camping tour of restricted duration. The Duke of Edinburgh Award provides a good opportunity for this, with 14 year olds undertaking a two day (one night) trip on the Bronze Award. The Silver Award provides a 3 day trip, and young people undertake a four-day trip in the Gold Award, which you have to be at least 16 years old to attempt. Longer trips for older youngsters are more challenging since you may need to put on wet clothes in the morning in order to keep the evening set dry a discipline which beginners often dont keep to, resulting in a very unpleasant experience in wet weather! I have very limited experience of combining cycling with camping, so you may benefit from seeking other sources of information on the internet for good advice.
Transport
This is a challenge, especially in cycle-unfriendly Britain. For a largish group we have generally taken the bikes by van and the cyclists by minibus or train. Recently we took 20 cyclists in a coach with their bikes in the luggage compartment, using old carpet as shielding to try to prevent scratching the frames. This worked very well. Our current coach company is very accommodating: They take the back several rows of seats out of the coach, giving enough space for 28 passengers, and all 28 bikes can just fit in the luggage compartments under the coach and in the space left by the removed seats. A few coach companies have trailers which can transport bikes especially in areas where there is a popular cycle trail, notably Sustrans Coast to Coast route. Alternatively hire a box van, with a driver or self-drive, and pack your bikes into this, with the passengers travelling by car, coach or train. Small groups can take bikes on trains, but the numbers are restricted call the specific train companies well in advance to research the possibilities. Four people can manage, but a dozen would be very tricky. In Ireland we were able to carry 15 bikes on a single inter-city train, booked in advance, with no problem at all. We travelled to Holland by overnight Ferry from Newcastle. I booked reasonable quality cabins towards the front of the boat (ie away from the engine noise). There are cheaper cabins much lower down aimed at groups but these are hot and very noisy so Id avoid them. We were able to book all our bikes in advance and the cabins were excellent each had a shower and four beds with clean sheets. We boarded at about 4pm and arrived the next morning at 9:30am, having had a reasonable nights sleep and ready to cycle for the day. We travelled to IJMuiden, which is about 20 miles from Amsterdam. On our return some of the group caught a small ferry from Amsterdam central station to IJMuiden to keep the distance down for that day. This also proved very good. In France we also travelled by overnight ferry to St Malo on the way out, and from Ouistreham on the return journey. This proved highly successful.
Support vehicles
Lets first say that you dont have to have a support vehicle! If you do have one, they serve several purposes:
Injured cyclists can ride with the vehicle for some hours or even a day or two Bikes which need repair at a shop can easily be transported Food can be bought for lunch, snacks or other meals Baggage can be carried forward each day Although undoubtedly handy, the downsides are obvious: You need to find a willing driver for your tour There will be a cost involved It becomes too easy for youngsters to find that they have a sore knee and opt out for a day or two, and even easier for other youngsters to want to join them for even flimsier reasons! I havent had a support vehicle on any of my tours thus far, either as an individual or with school tours. I enjoy the challenge of setting out from home equipped only with bike and panniers, and coping for the length of the tour. On the rare occasions that bikes or cyclists need emergency transport, I have used taxis; food can be bought as you go and carried a few miles if need be, and baggage is carried in panniers (and kept to a minimum). A support vehicle should be equipped with maps for the route, first aid equipment, spare food, spares for the bikes, and a phone. Even with a phone, arrange for the cyclists and vehicle to call into a messaging service three times a day in case the cyclists or vehicle go out of phone range. Theres no point in having a support vehicle you cant contact. On the other hand, I cant imagine a less desirable tour than one where a vehicle shadows the cyclists at all times with attendant noise. It happened to us In Holland a youngster had a suspected broken arm when he collided with another bike. The hospital put the arm in plaster, so he was out of the tour. Consulting the insurance helpline we found that sending him home by plane was covered. We proposed instead to move him daily by train so as not to disappoint him, which the insurers agreed to. However a day later another youngster injured his arm only a little but insisted on joining the train party, despite managing to play volleyball with the arm! I was stuck since a parent-doctor with us felt we shouldnt take the risk of asking the boy to continue riding. In retrospect I should have flown the broken arm home, and then the other boy would either have to prove an injury at a hospital and fly home, or continue riding.
Photos
I have got in the habit of taking loads of pictures of the kids and including the cost of these in the tour. I tend to pick spots which look as though they will look good in a picture, leave an adult at the front of the group and then shoot ahead a few hundred metres. At these spots I take a photo of every member of the party as they cycle past. My photo shop does two sets of all the pictures and provides a scanned copy of each on a CD. Each kid can then have a pack of photos showing them on tour. I now produce a photo CD for each participant. Parents and kids value having these as souvenirs and the cost is really very small compared with the overall cost of the tour.
Sources of information
Look for: Specialist cycle guide books Cycle maps (such as those published by Sustrans in the UK) Cycle route leaflets published by town and county councils Tourist publications which the tourist information centres can post you they have details of some of the accommodation and places to visit Do call tourist information centres and ask for specific information, eg what affordable group accommodation is nearby. Get on the internet, go to www.google.co.uk and type in cycleway uk or cycle guide uk or bike route uk and see what you can find. Plenty of sites list local guides.
Sustrans publish a book called The Official Guide to the National Cycle Network which is a very useful summary of routes available in the UK. Sustrans also produce many superb route maps for their famous signposted routes. They can be reached at www.sustrans.org.uk or phone 0117 929 0888 for the catalogue. The Ordnance Survey produce some very good cycle guides covering one or two counties per book. Each book has a dozen or more routes, very well highlighted on OS 1:50,000 map segments and described in the text also. These, plus the Cordee and Sustrans guides are listed on The Map Shop website (see below). You can also order OS cycle guides from your local bookshop. Cordee press publish many travel books including cycle guides such as the Lands End to John O Groats ride. They can be reached at www.cordee.co.uk or 0116 2543579. Wildes Guides are books with a dozen or more short cycle routes for a given area. They are at www.wildes-guides.co.uk, phone 01282 778536. Sigma Leisure produce some cycle route books. They are at www.sigmapress.co.uk, phone 01625 531 035. We have done the Wiltshire Cycleway which was excellent. The FREE route map is available from www.visitwiltshire.co.uk (click on the link to Brochure Request), or call 0906 30 20 322 (calls charged at 50p per minute). Similarly, Northumbria County Council publish the map of Northumbrias Cycling Kingdom, a triangular route with legs from three Sustrans routes. This map is at a smaller scale than the Sustrans standard, but is perfectly usable and is available free of charge from the council. Most maps from anywhere in the world are available from The Map Shop at www.themapshop.co.uk, phone 0800 085 40 80. Im not kidding when I say most maps this shop really is a treasure trove, and you dont need to visit in person their staff are very knowledgeable about their stock and will either be able to advise you immediately of the options, or get back to you within an hour or two. The maps are almost always in stock and can be delivered by first class post. Dont be put off by the fact that you cant see their stock on their internet site its just too huge to try to catalogue online.
Foreign trips
In addition to your normal kit, you will also need: European Health Insurance Cards available free of charge from www.ehic.org.uk they entitle UK citizens to NHS-equivalent treatment in EEC countries, free of charge. Travel insurance, to cover the usual risks for example medical treatment, withdrawal from the tour before it departs due to sickness, transporting an injured or sick cyclist home, etc. Shop around prices vary considerably, and read the specifics of what cover you get. Passports / collective passport plus copies. Adults will need to bring their own full passport. For children you have a choice they can travel with their own passport, or you can take a collective passport. The problem with youngsters carrying their own is that they can readily lose it, which will cause enormous hassle in obtaining a replacement at least a full day out of your tour for the child and an adult. Many school tour organisers collect the kids passports in as soon as they arrive in-country, and only return them on departure. For a cycle tour though this is a lot of extra bulk for the tour leader to carry. Where the kids are to keep their own passport it is sensible for the leader to carry a photocopy of the back page. A collective passport is a paper document which you can apply for, costing 40.
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Cycle touring with groups of children The process is fairly simple and you then carry this plus adult passports only. In some countries you will need to carry small identity cards for the kids, supplied by the passport office, in addition to the collective passport itself, although in practice the authorities will look at the collective passport but never at the kids identity cards. In France, for example, identity cards are required, whereas in Holland they are not. For an application form for a collective passport, call 01733 555 688 and ask for the collective passport department. VISA exemption. If you have youngsters who are not citizens of the European Union, it may be that they would normally require a visa to enter the European country you are travelling to. For a school party though, you can obtain a Home Office form free of charge, which needs only to be signed by your head teacher (rather than sent off). This provides exemption from the need for a visa. Copies are available from the Central Bureau of Educational Visits and Exchanges on 0207 389 4004.
Reconnaissance visits
You may consider riding some or all of the route as a recce. A recce is not essential thorough planning is most important however a recce will definitely result in a safer, more pleasant ride for your young cyclists. If you do check out the route in advance, you can either ride the whole route, or just do the cities/towns. In my experience however, there are as many route changes in the countryside as there are in towns/cities, so a full route-check is very worthwhile. You can cycle the route, or alternatively take a car with a bike, drive the road sections and cycle the sections of cycle path. This method takes less time than cycling the full route, and if you do have to make amendments the car makes it much less time-consuming to try these out. Ive tried this method very successfully in the UK and France. However in Holland if you do a recce youll have to cycle the route, since so much of the route will be on cycle paths where you cant take your car. If you use a GPS, you can load your planned route into it and as you cycle / drive the recce, your actual route will be recorded as a track. In the evening you can then amend your planned route on a laptop, so when your adults navigate the tour with the GPS they will have an exactly correct plot to follow. It may be particularly handy to ride the route in advance in these circumstances: If this is your first tour as group leader If you are cycling off-road it is extremely difficult to plan off road routes which are suitable for inexperienced riders unless you have ridden the terrain yourself. In addition you can't really assess the risks without riding in advance. If abroad foreign trips are more complicated and benefit from a recce visit. If your route will pass through large towns, or any cities: in this case it is very useful to visit in advance and plan the safest route through for your cyclists. If you are using a Sustrans cycling map in the UK, most of this work has been done for you. However, there are two areas in which Sustrans maps will fail you: a) Route amendments Sustrans is constantly improving the network. When you buy a map it generally gives a date and says it is an interim edition. Sustrans often include a sheet of route amendments. However, this sheet is generally not the most recent information. In our experience, there are often changes to Sustrans routes which dont appear on their maps or update sheets. You then find yourself relying totally on their signs, and since these are occasionally missing, or you yourself miss one crucial sign, youre then off route and without a useful route map. If the party leader checks the route in advance, hell discover all this. b) Rough sections Sustrans does make use of tracks from time to time in their routes. Many of these prove to be virtually unridable for road cyclists. Disused railways, and official paved cycle paths, are generally fine, but tracks are often not. Luckily Sustrans tend to use relatively short sections of track, so youll just have to push on
Cycle touring with groups of children these sections. Weve also encountered sections of Sustrans routes in the summer which are only about a foot wide, with six-foot high grass/brambles etc either side!
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Risk assessment
Having read through all the tips in this document, and the it happened to us quotes, you will be well aware that safety clearly needs to be at the forefront of your mind when you are on tour. Most outdoor activities organisations in the UK now expect those running events to do a risk assessment in advance. Essentially you need to think through every aspect of your tour decide what the risks are decide how likely each risk is decide how dangerous each risk is depending on the likelihood and danger, decide what measures to put in place to control the risk Your own organisation will supply their system of risk assessment to you. A few tips which work for me: The more care which goes into your advance planning, the more you will be able to reduce risk. If you start to feel unhappy about a situation you are in, do something about it! Dont just let things happen. The age and experience of your riders will make a big difference in what you need to do as a manager of risk. Young, inexperienced riders need you to be aware of risks and to point them out, especially in the first day or two. Older and more experienced riders need to be part of the team and share responsibility for risk management. It happened to us On a practice ride we came up behind a large vehicle cutting the road-side hedge. The machine was moving quite slowly, so we were all easily capable of overtaking it. The problems were that the machine had very nasty cutting equipment, which cyclists could potentially be seriously injured by; there was a lot of noise; on-coming cars would pose a hazard to cyclists overtaking the machine, and finally the cuttings could cause punctures. Each individual passed the cutter on their own. In retrospect it might have been better for an adult to overtake the cutter, signal for it to stop and then bring the group past it, posting other adults to stop traffic approaching. It happened to us We had just arrived in Holland and got off the ferry. As soon as we passed through passport control I stopped the party and warned them carefully about cycling on the right, and looking in all directions for traffic. Within a few hundred metres we had to cross a busy road. I allowed the kids to do this under their own control, ie deciding when they were safe to cross. Despite the warning seconds earlier, one 14-year-old had a close encounter with a large lorry, since he had looked in the wrong direction for the oncoming traffic. In retrospect I should have taken full control of this crossing, having each kid cross only under the orders of an adult, since they were clearly unfamiliar with Dutch roads.
During the ride

Adults in the party and responsibilities
1. An adult should cycle at the front they navigate and make the regular stops to ensure everyone is OK. 2. An adult cycles at the rear they ensure that no-one falls behind un-noticed. This adult is
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generally the person who fixes mechanical problems and minor injuries, and therefore they need to have the decent tool kit and first aid kit. 3. You may be lucky enough to have a third adult certainly on many of our tours we have had three adults. This affords you more leeway if any problems arise. There must be a team leader with clear responsibility for the whole party. Ultimately their decision must always be respected. It is important though that every adult feels they have something to contribute ideas and problems should be shared with the other adults in the party. The team leader does not necessarily stay at the front. Anyone who feels confident with navigation, and knows about the need for regular check-stops, can lead. This can be an adult, but also as the kids in the party become more experienced and take part in a second or third tour, they can assume the role of front-man, with an adult merely in the front part of the group rather than right at the front. This also prepares the youngsters for leading their own tours with friends. Adults may like to swap positions from day to day or during the day, by turns taking the lead position and the back marker.
Route finding
Every adult with your party should have a copy the days route map with them in a waterproof bag. The adult at the front will be the route finder, but the other adults need to stay aware of where the party is. At pretty much every place where you pass a road junction, leave a cyclist at the junction to ensure everyone continues in the correct direction. They have to wait until the adult at the back catches them up. It is amazingly easy for people in your party to take a wrong turn and end up costing you an hour or more looking for them. At major changes in the route, you generally wait for the whole party and check they are all there and there arent any problems. It happened to us We had all stopped in a farm gateway on the second day of a tour. When we were all gathered, I set off and after only 50 metres took a left turn, not bothering to leave someone at the junction since everyone could see the junction and we were all together. About 2 miles later I had a routine stop and found 5 people were missing four youngsters and the adult back marker. Something had delayed their start at the gateway, as it so often does, and the group had cycled straight on past the junction. We didnt have phones on this early tour (although they frequently dont work too well anyway in the countryside). It cost us nearly an hour in all we went back the two miles to the junction and waited until the missing party cycled back towards us, having done a given distance and realised we werent there. I learnt the need for regular stops and for leaving someone to mark junctions.
Stopping
With a junior cycle tour, consider stopping: Whenever the group is getting very strung out Half way up a giant hill to bolster peoples spirits At the top of most hills, so that the people at the back can catch everyone else up before you all shoot down the other side. At any place where you are turning off the road If none of the above applies, stop after two or three miles anyway. These stops are not intended to be long. The main idea is to keep your party under good control and to ensure that kids dont get too far behind, otherwise they will get depressed. Its
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important that everyone feels a part of a team. The regular stop will also serve to check that no-one is missing. Often the adult at the back has had to stop to sort out a mechanical problem or injury, and you wont know about it until a regular stop when they take longer to arrive. As soon as everyone has arrived and it is clear that everyone is OK, you can carry straight on. At each stop your party needs to be safe. Train them into getting off the road into an entrance of some kind, or onto a verge or grass. At worst, they stop in a long line keeping well into the side. It is essential that they dont bunch up in a group on the road, since speeding traffic could collide with your party with disastrous results. Use stops to keep the party informed as to the progress made and whats coming up how many miles done so far, how many to the next town / lunch etc. Are there any major hills coming up? When you have paused as a group, the start back into the road needs to be staggered dont have fifteen people all hitting the road at once instead have three or so at a time, followed by the others. It happened to us We had loads of crashes during our first tour in Holland. There were several causes. A key problem was stopping and starting. The flat terrain played a part. Perhaps the biggest cause was the extreme competitiveness of the youngsters we had that year. When cycling, the kids were desperate to be at the front. Id be cycling at a speed slow enough so that the kids at the back wouldnt get too far back, so Id often end up with up to eight kids in a tight bunch at the front. The fact that there were no hills meant that the front runners would never separate out, when on even slightly hilly ground the party spreads out much more easily. Crashes would frequently result. Either a youngster would try to come to the front of the group, wouldnt look behind when moving and another kid would pile into him. Sometimes when I came to a halt not all the kids would know. The front ones would pile the brakes on; those at the rear of the tight group would crash into them. Finally, when the group started, the competitive nature of the kids meant that theyd all try to be at the front. You might end up with four kids across and others in front and behind, with a crash happening quite quickly. I reduced the number of stops, increased my speed a bit and shouted much clearer warnings of our stops. I moaned at the kids never to have more than two abreast but this was often ignored, so another lesson is for me to me a bit nastier in future when the kids ignore an instruction!
Food, and rest stops

In addition to these check stops, you also need stops for rest / food. Kids dont eat much, but cycling uses up energy quickly, so they need regular replenishment of food and drink. Whenever you stop for a longer period it is important that everyone stays warm jumpers and / or waterproof tops are useful. I try to keep costs down by using supermarkets to buy materials for lunch and snacks where possible. The exception to this rule is when it rains if the weather is very unpleasant a cafe stop is a real lifesaver in warming the kids up, feeding them and improving morale. This being said, you need to avoid large greasy meals at lunchtime a light meal high on carbohydrate is the best choice. Chips, burgers and the like are not good cycling food. A hot chocolate and a decent sandwich, plus perhaps a chocolate bar, are reasonable. Bananas of course are great cycling food. The meal plan for the day on our tours is: A decent breakfast. Cereal, toast and a drink at least, but in many (UK) places a cooked breakfast is offered and the kids get used to eating it. This sets you up nicely for the day. A mid-morning stop after a quarter of the days journey. Refill bottles and eat something a banana, a fruesli bar or a chocolate bar. Drinks in shops such as Ribena, chocolate
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Cycle touring with groups of children milk etc are very popular, and the sugary drink helps energy levels. The down side is that a large chilled drink will leave the kids rather cold, so jumpers will be needed and you will have to set off again soon to warm up. Also it is easy to spend 3 a day at least per person on the morning and afternoon snacks, so allow for this in your information letter to the kids. Lunch at half way. The cheapest and quite satisfying method is to call into a supermarket and buy materials for a picnic lunch, ie bread, ham, chicken, cheese slices, drinks, chocolate bars, bananas, apples. Then find a spot where you can stop and eat. A mid-afternoon stop after another quarter of the days distance. Snacks same as in the morning. A big dinner!
The mid-morning stop, in particular, is essential. Kids are often used to eating no breakfast at all, and if they have eaten only a little then after 10 miles cycling their energy levels will be very low. It happened to us On the third day of a six day tour, we arrived at a town after 1 hours and 11 miles of cycling. We didnt snack, but bought lunch materials for later. On leaving the town, a slight twelve year old in the party stopped and it became clear that his energy level was too low. The adult at the back fed him a mars bar. I arrived at this point, to watch the child set off across a very busy main road, dodging cars and lorries with his bike. This thoroughly dangerous crossing was completely un-necessary he was already on the correct side of the road. When we asked him about the incident that evening, the boy couldnt remember anything that had happened. Essentially he had suffered a hypoglycaemic episode in exactly the same way that a diabetic person would. This episode taught me the need for a decent mid-morning snack. It happened to us One hotelier was particularly proud of the chef in his three-star restaurant. The patron addressed us all before the meal started to explain the care with which our meal had been prepared. For the starter, he told us, the hotel had found three wild hares. These had been boiled for twenty hours to reduce them down to the outstanding terrine de lapin et petite salade he was presenting to us. Sadly, most of the boys could only think of their pet rabbit in a stew pot, and most didnt eat too much! Luckily the main course of cod and pasta was more popular.
A typical day
This is how a typical riding day is structured. 8:00 Breakfast Following this everyone finishes packing their panniers, digs their bikes out of the bike shed, fixes their panniers on and generally checks their bike is ready to go. You sometimes find you have to fix a slow puncture which wasn't obvious the night before. If you are using a support vehicle, the kit which people are leaving on it needs to be packed into it. Group leader needs to check out of the accommodation. One or more adults should check each room to see that nothing has been left behind and the place is left looking tidy enough. Has everyone filled their water bottle and attached it to their bike? 9:00 Try to be getting away by now (you will be a bit later on the first morning as everyone gets used to the routine). Mid morning First snack / rest Lunch time Lunch Mid afternoon Another snack/ rest 4pm ish Aim to finish the day's riding by 4-5pm.
Cycle touring with groups of children 5:00 7:00
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10:00
If you can locate a swimming pool, an hour spent there is always very popular with youngsters. In Wiltshire on a six day tour we swam on five days. Swimming was also very popular in Holland. Dinner At some time in the evening riders need to fix any problems with their bikes. If you put a new tube in as a fix for a puncture, repair the puncture tonight. Fiddle with reluctant gears now. Riders need to get in the habit of fixing problems in the evening, since you won't want to have your departure delayed in the morning. Younger or inexperienced cyclists will need help from adults, or from any more experienced youngsters in the group. These slightly older pupils can be a tremendous help with maintenance. Young cyclists may be very tired some evenings in which case help will definitely be needed. The leader should try to remember any problems which have arisen and ensure that they are dealt with. If you have had a lot of rain someone should oil everyone's chain. Kids will appreciate an opportunity to call home if possible. Mobile phones with large numbers of free off-peak minutes are very handy. Abroad, the cheapest method is for the kids to buy a local phone card very much cheaper than mobile calls. Try to make sure that the state of each youngster is monitored each day. You want to check if they are generally happy, any injuries have been treated, maintenance problems fixed etc. You could consider dividing this task amongst your adults, so each is responsible for keeping an eye on a few children. It's a shame if someone feels unhappy and noone knows about it. This principle could apply also during the cycling day. Briefing meeting: It is sensible to have a meeting each evening to brief the team on the next days ride. The information pack you provided in advance of the trip will have told them the expected distance, but you could show them the map briefly. Staff may need a more detailed discussion about the route, especially if there is a possibility that the group may split at any time. Junior riders should be in bed by now. Cycle touring is tiring for them, so you generally have no trouble getting them settled.
It happened to us... On a walking trip to the Pyrenees, the second day was quite tough. One of the smaller youngsters said that everyone else's legs were longer and they could walk that much faster. Half way through the day he suddenly reported that he felt dizzy and generally unwell, but managed to complete the day. Throughout the week he continued to report this general malaise and told us that he was vomiting. We consulted a doctor. The symptoms were sufficiently vague that the doctor said it was just a lack of energy and we should feed him up but the boy didn't want to eat. He did manage to complete every day though, and in the end it turned out that the symptoms (and refusal to eat enough) were largely being invented by the child in an attempt to control an environment he was finding very challenging. An easier first couple of days, and greater willingness on our part to keep a sympathetic eye on him, would probably have prevented all the fuss.
Every few days...

Every three days or so you should aim to wash clothes cycle shirts etc will get unbearably smelly otherwise. Adults / more experienced riders will need to organise this in the evening. If you are very lucky your accommodation may offer a laundry service it's always worth asking! Certainly when planning the tour ask whether they have facilities for you to do laundry, so you can plan ahead.
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Also every three days or so it is worth your while going through each rider's kit. Call it an inspection if you wish, and tell the kids what you are looking for they can then: Empty out their panniers. Look for accumulated rubbish / food and ditch it. Check for any wet clothes and hang them up. Leave their stuff neatly on their bed for you to see. This is also a good time to find any kit which they have 'lost' often it is just at the bottom of a bag (or possibly has fallen into someone else's). This is another opportunity to see if the rider is generally happy, have any continuing difficulties with panniers, etc. Check what they have laid out, and that their pannier is clear of rubbish, then they can repack. This is one of those tasks which could be divided between your adults, once everyone knows what you are looking to achieve.
Youngsters cycling independently as a small group

Once a kid has toured with you, they may be interested in completing some or all of the days on the next tour without direct adult supervision. Invariably the kids love the challenge and freedom which this offers them. You can share the accommodation and meals. The party can come together again for any days which are especially tricky, notably if you have to navigate through a complicated city-scape where errors would force you onto dangerous trunk roads. Cycling independently is great practice for the kids after all, British Youth Hostels will accept youngsters overnight without an adult from the age of 14. Cycling as an independent group but sharing accommodation is a perfect half-way house between following an adult and planning their own independent tour. I offer this option up-front as part of some of our tours. I then ensure that those opting for it have sufficient experience and training the choice is usually only available to those who have toured with us before, and I normally mount a special training day. This covers first aid / handling emergencies navigation repairs Its important that parents understand that the kids will not have an adult cycling with them, and sign the consent form accordingly. I ask the kids to carry a few tools, some first aid items, two mobile phones and two maps between them. They are expected to contact me at least twice a day to keep me apprised of their progress.
Problems on tour
Weather
Rain wont slow you down anywhere near as much as wind will, but will dampen spirits (literally!). There are more safety issues with rain, so you need to keep your party in good control and in sight. The road surface will be slippery, so a more careful approach to corners on any downhill sections is essential. Drivers wont be able to see your cyclists quite as easily. Junior children can cool down very rapidly so rainwear will be essential. You may be able to cycle with a t-shirt and waterproof, but younger kids may need a jumper also. If your group has to stop, make sure that the kids put a jumper / waterproof on, and try to get them into shelter if possible. Sun a combination of sun and wind can easily burn kids they are exposed to the weather for a large part of the day. Sunglasses are a very good idea since they protect the eyes both from bright light and bugs / dust. Sun block is essential ensure your party applies it. Make sure that you arrange for them to refill their water bottles plenty of drink is essential. The kids will be nervous about asking shop-keepers to fill their bottles, so encourage them or ask on their behalf. In Holland with a large party I felt it was unreasonable to ask shop-keepers to refill 20 bottles! Instead we just bought water. It was well worth finding the large 2 litre water
Cycle touring with groups of children cartons, which cost a quarter of the price of the 500ml tourist bottles from the same shop!
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Wind as well as a head wind slowing you down and sapping your energy, a gust from cross wind can cause an inexperienced rider to fall off or cycle erratically. A head wind really can crush the spirits of your group. I spread the adults out and get the kids to cycle in a tight line behind them to reduce drag. More frequent stops are necessary; more food and drink also. If you have alternatives to reduce the distance covered that day you may need to do so. Conversely a following wind can be tremendous fun, as we found out in Holland on a couple of days. On one occasion a very strong wind got 11-year-olds cycling at 28mph on the flat for several miles a little more than twice our normal speed with this age group. It happened to us Freak wind made a short section of a route very dangerous. We were to cross a high long road bridge. It had been extremely windy all day. The kids started out across the bridge, and for some reason none of the adults was at the front. The road they were riding on was actually a minor road running parallel to the motorway across the bridge. Normally traffic on the minor road is very quiet, but coinciding with our crossing, six large trucks delivering building materials started to cross on the same road. At this moment the wind speed increased still further, gusting to gale force and beyond. The kids were unable to control their bikes and were being blown across the road and into the path of the lorries. Luckily no-one was hurt but it was a scary moment. We learnt: Really do try to keep an adult at the front Had there been an adult at the front, he would then have stopped the group and got them into the side while the lorries passed. If the freak gusts continued on the bridge, he would then have had the kids walk their bikes across.
Likely health problems

Grazes
You will have plenty of kids falling off their bikes during a tour. They will be bruised and grazed, and a hard fall will leave them very shaky for a while. You will need to: Stop your party, get the group off the road and ensure they are warm enough. Your first responsibility as group leader is to all the kids, not just the injured one. Check the child over to locate injuries. Dont focus only on the obvious graze. Are they lucid? What other sore points have they? Clean the wound(s) with cleansing wipes. Apply a dressing. Often grazes are too big for standard plasters, and I cut a melolin pad to shape and fix it either with tape or a conforming bandage. Get them cycling again, but keep an adult just behind them for a while to see that they are OK. You need, if possible, to re-establish their normal cycling pattern rather than let them lose confidence by opting out for the day.
Allergic reactions
It is quite common for kids who dont normally suffer from hayfever to suffer an allergic reaction during a cycle tour. The party can come across plenty of pollen / seeds from work in fields, plus pollutants in towns. If a youngster has a hayfever reaction sneezing, eyes watering, I always treat it with Clarityn (although be aware that this drug is not for primary school children who will need an alternative antihistamine such as Piriton, which may make them drowsy). Bad insect bites / stings can also be treated in the same way, together with an antihistamine cream such as Anthisan. Consent for use of over-the-counter medicines, and for emergency treatment, must be given by parents in writing and carried by the leader.
Hypoglycaemia
See earlier in the section on food for a story about a child who collapsed due to hypoglycaemia.
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Cycle touring with groups of children It happened to us A boy had a slightly infected foot, so he was feeling a bit under the weather. Wed sought an antibiotic but the local doctor lectured me: treat a local infection locally, so we had to make do with an antiseptic cream. The next day the lad seemed more than well enough. However, his trainers mysteriously went missing. We had a ferry deadline to meet and searched frantically for hour before finding the trainers hidden under his mattress! Once found he then told me that another adult had said he shouldnt ride, a conversation which proved never to have taken place! The kid was basically trying to find reasons not to ride. In the end we persuaded him to go, and he was fine. Once again I learnt to try to stay alert and sympathetic to the needs of the youngsters, but also be wary of psychological tactics they might employ! I also resolved to carry a broad-spectrum antibiotic on future foreign trips, but this is based on my medical training and parental consent in advance.
What if a member of the party cant carry on?

This can occur either due to a mechanical problem or an injury. If you have a support vehicle, it is an easy matter to summon it and have them continue in the vehicle. Lacking this, You will need to call a taxi (or if injured, an ambulance) and take them to a cycle shop or surgery. Naturally they will need to be accompanied by an adult. A taxi may well be able to fit a childs bike in the boot, jutting out, with the boot / bike secured by string, Try to cover the bike with something in order to prevent the taxi getting oil on it, and to prevent the bike getting scratched by the boot lid. The adults bike, and possibly the childs bike also, will have to be securely locked at the road. Do take your panniers with you though. When the child, or their bike, has been treated by the shop or surgery, continue on either to meet your group en route, or straight on to that nights accommodation. When the other adult(s) in your group are able to supervise the child, you can call a taxi to go back to your bike and either fetch it or ride in on to the accommodation. As an adult you may be keen to complete the whole route on your bike, and you will be much faster on your own, so it is worth a try to cycle. The day following an injury, the child either Continues cycling Stays in the support vehicle, if you have one Continues to the next accommodation by train / taxi, accompanied by an adult Goes home summon a parent to collect them. The adult waiting with them can continue by bike after the child has been collected. It happened to us A 12 year old was challenged by his friend to ride with his hands off the handle-bars, having watched the older riders perform a number of silly manoeuvres. He promptly rode into a hedge and twisted his knee very badly. He managed to cycle 1 miles in to the next town, although the knee was painful and he cried much of the way. I locked up my bike and called a taxi which took the pair of us the 12 miles to the town were we were going to stay, together with his bike in the boot. The rest of the party continued with the other adult. We asked at the accommodation about a doctor and the local doctor was kind enough to open his surgery for us. There wasnt much to be done for the boy except rest and he missed the final two days of the tour. Luckily his mother was staying nearby and collected him the next morning at about mid-day. Cycling on my own I caught up with the rest of the party who had completed about two-thirds of the days cycle.
What to do if someone gets lost

The first points to make are about avoidance. Do have regular stops, and do leave a marker at each junction see earlier sections on stopping and route finding.
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Another top tip is to make up contact cards in advance. These have the adults mobile numbers, plus the phone numbers of each nights accommodation (with dates). There is also a brief paragraph explaining that the youngster is on a school trip and asking co-operation in helping them if necessary. This is printed in English plus the local language if abroad. I print these on credit card sized paper and laminate them in plastic. Each member of the party is issued with one and I carry spares. If someone gets lost or gets into some other kind of trouble, they should use the card and ask in a shop for help in calling the staff. I check regularly that the kids have their cards they have a habit of leaving them in accommodation. We have never had cyclists missing for more than an hour. If you find someone missing, do this: Stop! Make sure the party is safe off the road and warm clothes. Establish who is missing. An adult should cycle back to the last place where the group stopped to try to locate the missing people. It can easily take an hour to locate missing cyclists. An adult can ride back and forth between the last stop and where the group currently is, and also investigate any likely looking junctions where a wrong turn could have happened. Stay calm!! The missing people WILL be found, and panicking wont help you need to take rational decisions and the rest of your party need you to stay in control. If 1 hours have gone by, contact the local police to explain the problem. There is no need to panic it is simply to establish contact in case the missing people are found and reported to the police. The main party should find a caf to stay warm and have some food. After 2 hours of being missing, you should contact your home contact to advise them of the problem and ensure that parents are informed. It happened to us On our third day in Holland we had cycled a long route in hot sun and were glad finally to reach our destination town. Unfortunately I took a wrong turn and ended up with all the kids except one. All the other adults had also dropped off the back and I assumed the boy was with them. It turned out though that he had got lost on his own. The 12-year-old acted very sensibly: first, he got some Dutch people to try to call us on our mobiles, using his contact card. Failing to get through he asked for directions and got himself to the Youth Hostel, arriving five minutes before I did! I learnt that British mobile phones sometimes need several attempts before someone gets through to them while abroad. I also learnt that youngsters are much better off when trained to act with initiative: try the contact card, but also be willing to solve the problem yourself. It happened to us On a (non cycling) adventure trip to Southern France, a Birmingham school party was on the way home. They stopped at 10pm at a Lyons service station where a boy failed to get on the coach in time. This was not spotted the teachers did a head count but with sleeping bodies everywhere, and after a tiring day, they missed him. 1000 miles later the party had crossed the channel on the ferry and were counted back onto the coach, where the missing child was revealed. Assuming the child had fallen overboard, an airsea rescue costing 100,000 was launched. Meanwhile, the police in France called the childs parents to say he was in Lyons before they even knew he was missing! (This wasnt our school although by coincidence we had a party of 50 youngsters returning from an identical trip, stopping in Lyons at the same time, only six days later!)
Behaviour
There are a few ways in which inappropriate behaviour can cause you problems on a cycle tour.
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Dangerous riding
Kids can sometimes ride foolishly, for example with both hands off the handlebar. Weve had this happen and although much of the time they get away with it, weve had a young lad ride his bike into a ditch and twist his knee enough that he had to end his tour there, which was a shame. More risky, Ive witnessed kids happily sailing across a junction following the guy in front, without themselves stopping to check for traffic. This behaviour is really risky and I do worry about the prospect of kids being knocked over and killed. To help prevent this I will stage an adult watching a junction from a distance and if they see kids not looking for traffic, they admonish them. If we get repeated behaviour like this from a kid, I would seriously consider calling their parents and sending them home.
Shenanigans in the evening
Mostly, kids will misbehave in the accommodation when they are bored and have nothing to do. They will then find things to do jumping from one bed to another for example. Frequently excess noise is created, annoying other guests, and sometimes damage results to the hostel or hotel. Either way your group will gain a very bad reputation; you may have to pay for damage and the accommodation could even tell you to leave! Clearly you need to take steps to avoid this. These include: Have your adults make regular sweeps of the bedrooms and public areas in use by your group to check on behaviour; Make sure there are things to do: you could organise various sports, depending on availability of space to play. Youth hostels frequently have games equipment available at reception on request. Weve also been out swimming or to the cinema on some evenings. Luckily on a cycle tour after the first night the kids are more tired which helps reduce excess energy in the evenings.
Difficulties when another youth group is present
There can be specific issues when your group is sharing accommodation with another group it is possible for a slightly hostile atmosphere to develop between the children in the two groups. Things which we have encountered include: One group invading space which is the exclusive use of anothers Taking of kit belonging to the other group, commonly play equipment such as a football Outright stealing of personal kit Fighting between individuals or even groups When you arrive at the accommodation and there is another group using it, warn your kids to keep out of the other groups area. Tell them that if they feel that members of the other group are mis-behaving, they should tell your staff rather than taking matters into their own hands. Remind your group to keep their bedrooms locked and not to go into other peoples bedrooms. If there is a proposal for a joint event such as a football match, ensure that your adults are supervising directly. As already suggested, have your staff make regular sweeps to check on behaviour. It happened to us The worst behavioural incident which we have encountered took place on an overnight ferry journey at the end of a tour. Having endured the strain of getting a young party to cycle 80 miles, a long distance for the age group, and to arrive at the ferry on time, I was exhausted and retired to lie down. Other adults in the group chatted at the bar and had a look around the ferry from time to time, although it was a large vessel and it was tricky to see where all the kids were. In the meantime an episode of silliness led to some quite dangerous behaviour. Initially some of the kids decided theyd hold a sit-down strike outside the shop, in opposition to tobacco sales. The shop was virtually deserted at the time so they felt they werent being too naughty! Some of the group ran excitedly downstairs to invite others to take part. A lot of noise was generated and one tired lorry driver in a cabin adjacent to some of our kids got so angry that he punched a hole in the wall of their cabin! Chastised, the kids wandered off and met kids from another party in a lift. Insults
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were traded and our kids ended up chasing the other kids back to their cabin and tried to force their way in. The other kids managed to slam the door shut, catching the finger of one of our kids in the hinge and causing a serious cut and crush injury. We were accompanied by the security staff to the medical room adjacent to the bridge where a radio call for advice from a shore-based medical unit was put out. In the end the child with the injury recovered with no long term effects but the behaviour of the kids in our group shocked everyone. We resolved to patrol ferry journeys much more actively and to stamp down hard on silly behaviour.
The practice ride

A practice riding day is essential. The aims include: Getting their bike ready for a ride, and giving it a decent days ride to find any problems Learning the way we ride as a group Giving clothing a try Having a long enough ride to show the riders what the level of difficulty is. Every one of our tours has had a practice ride, typically two months before the main ride. The ride takes place in our local area to make transport as easy as possible. We meet at a rail station in the countryside outside the city, so riders have the choice of being dropped off by car or arriving by train. Costs are limited only to transport, which the parents are responsible for, so we dont have to make any additional charge for the day. It can be difficult to find a day which everyone on the tour can attend. In this event I prioritise having inexperienced youngsters on the day I dont mind if kids cant attend who have been with us before, but novice tour riders really must attend. To try to ensure this I announce the date of the practice day at the same time as the dates for the tour itself and ask parents to keep the day clear in their family diary. Following the ride cyclists will know what needs to be done, if anything, to improve the state of their bike, their clothing, how to attach their panniers and their fitness level. We have had just one youngster drop out from a tour following a practice day since he found it too challenging. If this is going to happen, although it is a shame it is much better for them to drop out now than cause major problems during the tour itself. Equally, we had a boy who found a practice day really hard and set about getting himself much fitter before attending the tour, in which he proved to be one of the fittest. Years later he joined us on a tour of over 1100 miles as a 17-year-old. Here is a checklist of ideas to keep in mind for your practice ride.
On arrival at the start

Adults in the party: let them have maps, if you have made them for this day, plus mini first aid kids (wound wipes and plasters), plus your mobile number. Get a note of their mobile numbers if they are carrying a phone. Kids: Read out the advice from the trip booklet on cycling technique: Apply plenty of sun block Fill your water bottle regularly Adult at front and back; may be overtaken at a hill; cyclists wait at top of hill, well into side Single file on busy roads; can double up on quiet roads when you can see; leave gap between each pair so that you can break into single file Allow enough space to brake dont speed round corners downhill Look behind when overtaking; call ahead to say you are overtaking Get into the side of the road, or off the road, when stopping
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Cycle touring with groups of children Slow down for animals and pedestrians; give them a wide berth; greet owner if you are the first Dont fool about Care at junctions stop, look, listen. Dont assume its clear just because the cyclist in front has crossed. Each cyclist is responsible for their own safety Eat and drink enough it is easy to suffer from lack of energy due to not enough food, or to get dehydrated. If you get lost, stop and wait. After 30 minutes, if you can definitely remember where the party was last together, return there and wait. Put on a coat. Get off the road. After an hour, use your contact card to call for help.
Check everyones bikes over before starting

Front and rear brakes working; pads correctly aligned on wheel rims and not too badly worn Saddle correct height and solidly fixed Panniers fixed; offer advice on size of pannier and fixing Helmet do they have one; does it fit well. No helmet usually means send them home, so check as they arrive before parents leave. If the helmet is loose after you have adjusted the straps, remind them that helmets come with varying sizes of foam pads with Velcro. They need to try the other Velcro foam pads to get the best fit. Tyres inflated and undamaged Gears working
During ride
Ride for two-three miles at a time, leaving a cyclist as a marker at every junction to point the way. This cyclist remains until the adult at the back has arrived. Pause every two-three miles to check everyone is OK. Use the pauses to offer advice on technique: Change down gears when coming to a halt so that you can start more easily How to balance the two gears dont have little-little rings or big-big rings. When stopping for a major rest / eating, put on jacket early. Refill water bottle if possible. Dont ride over grass sections beware of thorns resulting in punctures Crossing busy roads stop in advance and teach the first technique below. Later, teach the more advanced techniques: 1. Everyone is queued up on a pavement / verge and walks quickly across in pairs or threes, on the signal from a teacher, not as a whole group. 2. Individuals arrive and stop, then cross taking their own decision as to when it is safe to cross 3. Cycle up to the junction, look behind, indicate, move to centre, stop if necessary, complete the cross Care with change of road surface, and particularly when there is loose gravel slow down (but dont crawl), especially on corners / downhill When we have paused as a group, the start back into the road needs to be staggered dont have fifteen people all hitting the road at once instead have three or so at a time, followed by the others. Offer advice on clothing brightness, weight, visibility, waterproofing, comfort (shorts, shirt, jacket). Large obstacles, eg moving hedge cutters wait. Get the group to bunch up. Teacher to figure out safest method to pass with a hedge cutter, ask the cutter to stop while everyone passes. Reinforce guidance offered at start of ride. Observe group and stop for a snack if they are flagging. Keep them appraised as to progress and whats coming up. If a bike is noisy, offer advice as to why (eg lubrication)
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At end of ride
Have post-mortem / feed back / congratulations. Are parents here yet? Do you need to call them on your mobile? They will be tired reassure them that they will definitely improve as the tour progresses Have they had any equipment problems? Do these need to be addressed before the main ride? Any safety issues to reinforce? Comments on weather problems? Tell them the distance they covered and relate this to the daily distances planned for the tour.
Final three reminders before you dismiss them

Pack only the kit on the list dont be tempted to chuck in more. Make sure your bike is fully serviced and ready to ride before you turn up. Any problems, call us in advance dont wait until the first day. Tell them how to contact you before the tour starts, especially if the trip is some days into a school holiday and they cant therefore reach you at school.
Adults: get the first aid kits back from them, and listen to any comments or questions they have.
Maintenance training day

For one of our tours we had a day indoors looking at basic bike maintenance. This was generally looked on favourably. The only disadvantage is finding the time for a practice day and maintenance day as well as the tour itself and the planning, and also finding days which most of your cyclists can attend. The topics you can cover during the day include the following, although be aware that you may well not cover the whole list!
Practical skills
Basic bike safety check before going for a ride Cleaning and lubricating your bike inc. cables & chain Wheel and tyre removal. Puncture repair; how to avoid punctures Replacement of brake cables and housing Minor adjustment of brake cable and brake pad centering Replacement of brake pads Replacement of gear cables and housing. Indexing of gears Replacing chain. Correct chain length.
Demonstrations / discussion
Demonstration of suitable lighting & clothing. Explanation of toe straps, clipless pedals. Security of the bike. Racks and panniers. What to take on a weeks ride. Travelling on the train with your bike Types of tyre Food on a ride Road safety issues Contents of a road side tool kit (different content for school trips or for sole use)
Spare parts
You need to have a selection of spare parts available for the day. I asked a local cycle shop to let us have a load of the following on a sale-or-return basis, and paid them the following day
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when I returned what we didnt use. The kids also bought a number of parts from us as spares. Parts to have include: Brake blocks for V-brakes and cantilever brakes. Gear and brake cables Cable housing and metal end pieces Metal cable ends Chain lubricant Teflon spray lubricant for cable housings etc. Youll also need to ask several people to come along who know how to do these basic tasks teachers, parents and riders from past tours are all good possibilities. Ask everyone to bring plenty of tools with them, and to figure out how to ensure they go home with what they brought! (I put some coloured insulation tape on my tools to identify them). On the one occasion so far that we have run this kind of day we made a small charge to cover some spare parts plus duplicating of sheets on how to do basic maintenance tasks. Everyone had a gear cable, brake cable and housings for these.
Equipment
Seasoned travellers will tell you to pack light heed their advice! Make it a challenge for the party to pack as light as possible. I bring a spring balance with me on the day of departure and weigh everyones bags. For those with heavy bags I ruthlessly go through their kit and jettison un-necessary items (these are left in the minibus transporting the kids). Kids bags should weigh about 5 kg for an unlimited tour in summer conditions, including the weight of the bag itself. Any more than 6kg and you should be very suspicious. My kit as group leader weighed 7 kg for a six day tour, which had the same stuff as the kids plus first aid, maps, phone, charger, camera and sandals. Four days is pretty much the maximum you should ride between clothes washes cycling clothes will really start to stink. Cyclists on our tours have one set of cycling clothes and one set of evening clothes, only! In planning the accommodation I find out which places have laundry facilities, preferably every three days or so. Everyones cycle clothes (top, shorts, underwear and socks) are collected and laundered centrally a task for the adults to share, or perhaps for more experienced youngsters from the party. Make sure that they have named their kit in advance! It happened to us In the days before I got a spring balance, one of the smallest members of the party arrived with bulging panniers. I unpacked these and found amongst other things two 2litre fizzy drinks bottles (thats an extra 4kg alone), a packed lunch in a freezer cool bag complete with freezer block, plus plenty of superfluous clothes. All the above were left behind in the minibus going back to school. For a list of what the kids are advised to bring, refer to the trip Information Pack which I publish for each tour. The following is the kit I carry as leader of school cycle tour.
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Kit for tour leaders Packed

2 Karrimor or Ortlieb cycle panniers, totally waterproof. Camera: Canon EOS 300, 28-90mm Canon lens, LowePro bag, thin belt (can be worn on waist or packed in panniers when raining); films (or memory cards for digital cameras); camera batteries Toothpaste, toothbrush, deodorant, soap, razor Change of clothes for evening / travelling: Trousers, trip polo shirt, socks, underwear First Aid Kit see later Phone, charger, contacts card in ZipLock plastic bag Documentation: Consent forms for kids; Booking forms for accommodation / transport; Transport tickets; Spare route map, other maps eg town plans, all in waterproof ortlieb A4 bag Route map(s) in plastic bag. Guide book, if carried. Lightweight lock Warm micro-fleece top Breathable waterproof cycling jacket Repair kit see later Sports sandles Teva Travellers Towel, swimming trunks, plastic bag Money belt with credit card, cash card, YHA membership card, 3 blank cheques, cash, 3 biros, receipts, in ZipLock plastic bag Total weight 7 kg including the pannier bags
Wearing
Yellow cycle shirt Cycle shorts, underwear Cycle shoes, socks Helmet (I have a reevu helmet which has a hidden built-in periscope giving a constant view of the kids behind me) Sunglasses & bag
Bike
Touring bike Rear LED light, lightweight front lamp Water bottle GPS unit
Extra for foreign travel

Passport E111 health forms for the party Insurance documents for the party Phrase book or sheet Group passport for kids VISA exemption form for kids, if needed Travel power socket adapter
Group First Aid Kit (carried by one adult)

2 10x20 melolin 3 10x10 melolin 2 7.5cm x 4m conforming bandage 1 5cm x 4m conforming bandage 1 5cm x 10m roll hypafix dressing retention sheet 10 wound wipes 10 fabric plasters Pack 10 tissues 14 Clarityn
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16 paracetamol 1 tube germolene 1 tube anthisan 1 5cm crpe bandage 1 medium wound dressing Scissors Tweezers
Group Tool kit (carried by one adult)

Oil (Finish Line Cross Country) PowerPump ToPeak Alien Tool 6 Cable ties 3 Tyre levers Pack Pre-glued Park patches I share the following items between the other adults on the tour, who also bring a small tool kit containing their favourite items. Everyone on tour is expected to have a spare inner tube, tyre levers and a pump. A few spanners Screwdriver Cable Cutters Cables
Each adult on trip carries

Small first aid kit in ziplock plastic bag, containing 2 small primapore plasters 1 large primapore plasters 10 wound wipes 10 fabric plasters Micropore tape 2.5cm x 2m Mobile phone, charger, contact card (all in ziplock plastic bag) Credit card Route map Photocopies of the passports if we are abroad Tool kit of their own design

Cycle Touring With School Children

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Cycle Touring With School Children

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Cycle touring with school children

Tips for adults organising and helping with tours

Cycle touring with groups of children

Planning the ride

Numbers in the party

Cycle touring with groups of children

Short first day

Cycle touring with groups of children

Cycle-specific maps abroad

Route planning software

Cycle touring with groups of children

Global Positioning System (GPS)

Cycle touring with groups of children

Cycle touring with groups of children

Cycle touring with groups of children

Cycle touring with groups of children

During the ride

Cycle touring with groups of children

Cycle touring with groups of children

Food, and rest stops

Cycle touring with groups of children 5:00 7:00

Every few days...

Cycle touring with groups of children

Youngsters cycling independently as a small group

Likely health problems

What if a member of the party cant carry on?

What to do if someone gets lost

Cycle touring with groups of children

Cycle touring with groups of children

Shenanigans in the evening

Difficulties when another youth group is present

Cycle touring with groups of children

The practice ride

On arrival at the start

Check everyones bikes over before starting

Cycle touring with groups of children

Final three reminders before you dismiss them

Maintenance training day

Cycle touring with groups of children

Cycle touring with groups of children

Kit for tour leaders Packed

Extra for foreign travel

Group First Aid Kit (carried by one adult)

Cycle touring with groups of children

Group Tool kit (carried by one adult)

Each adult on trip carries

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