How to Get Started: Family Bike Touring

How Do We Start?

As a family who loves bike touring/packing, we get asked this question a lot by other families interested in bike travel with kids. The good news is, it’s not as difficult as you might think. The bad news is, once you get the hang of it, you may want to quit your job and bike full time. I take no responsibility if you choose the latter.

But in all seriousness, it can be intimidating and overwhelming to know where to start. I’ve broken it down into seven steps, which hopefully will help you get the ball rolling. It may take some investment and practice, but I believe bike touring with kids is an achievable and extremely rewarding endeavor.

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Step One: Start by Dreaming

Three boys sit on a porch reading Lonely Planet's Epic Ride book series.

Nothing gets me more excited to bike tour than researching and dreaming of routes. Beautiful pictures of simple travel among idyllic backroads and countrysides is usually what occupies my daydreams. Whatever type of bike travel you desire, there is likely a route for you, whether you want car free and moderately graded rail trails, backcountry singletrack, or to explore a new country.

Take a Look, It’s in a Book

One of my favorite ways to get my trip planning juices going is to flip through a series of books by Lonely Planet: The Epic Bike Rides series. I like to have the hard copy coffee table books on hand, because they really are well made and so inspiring. My kids love to flip through them as well, which helps them to be on board with future bike trips.

Websites Worth Browsing

A few other resources I like are online; AdventureCycling.org has a huge network of cycling routes mapped out all over the U.S., and Bikepacking.com also has a ton of trip ideas (though generally more off-road or gravel/dirt roads). These two resources provide essential data about the details and difficulty of their mapped routes, as well as write ups from people who have ridden them, which is really helpful.

A sample map from Adventure cycling, complete with elevation chart, service symbols, etc.
A sample map from Adventure cycling, complete with elevation chart, service symbols, etc.

Rails to Trails Offer Car Free Convenience

Another resource is the Rails to Trails Conservancy, which lists information about some of our favorite family friendly bike routes- rail trails! These are old railroad beds that have been converted into multi-use trails. They’re great for families because they’re car free, protected bike paths with really gentle grades. They are often very long, which means you can go on a multi day bike ride with few worries about route finding or safety.

A father and son ride along a dirt rail trail surrounded by trees.
The Katy (rail) Trail in Missouri offers 240 miles of car free riding!

Some of our favorite rail trail trips have been the Katy Trail in Missouri, the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes in Idaho, and the Olympic Discovery trail in western Washington. We’ve got several more on our to-do list, like the Great Allegheny Passage trail in Pennsylvania/Maryland and the Mickelson Trail in South Dakota. So many possibilities!

Step Two: Make a Plan

A dream without a plan is just a wish, so now that you have your head full of route dreams, pick one. This decision will depend on a lot of things:

  • How much time do you have available?
  • How far can you travel?
  • What kind of budget do you have?
  • Do you want to camp and bring all your gear or book lodging and have a bed each night?
  • What season is best to ride the route you’ve chosen?

Once you’ve answered those questions and chosen a route, you can start researching and planning. I have had a lot of success with online forums, asking questions of other families who have done the same or similar routes. The facebook group Bicycle Touring with Kids is a great place to start.

What’s Your Timetable?

How much time do you have available? For us, it’s a few weeks a year usually. Of course, I’d love to be on the road bike touring with my family all the time, but I also love our community and life at home. Our jobs are not mobile/online, so that is not an option for us right now. But that doesn’t mean we can’t still go on shorter adventures. Weekend or week long trips are great to sprinkle in throughout the year, over holidays or school breaks.

How far can you travel? Do you plan to fly with bikes to a destination, drive to a destination, or bike from a local point? Often, sought after routes or trails will need some additional travel to get there. Make sure you factor in those travel days in your trip total.

Daily Mileage

You should also assess your family’s abilities so you know about how many miles a day you can expect to realistically cover. Towing kids in a trailer or on a seat allows you to cover more ground, whereas kids riding independently might mean less miles than you would ride solo. With our kids riding, I often loosely plan on about 20 miles a day, with some being less and some being more, depending on moods or distractions/attractions around.

Remember, on a bike trip you have all day to cover miles, and with kids, you’ll want to stop a lot to let them play and explore. Our kids love bike travel for this reason- biking to find new play spots. But, they often surprise us with their ability to cover more miles than we expect. Take some practice rides to get a feel for how they’ll do.

Route Plan

A big part of planning daily mileage depends on camp spots. Some days you will need to ride a certain mileage to get to campgrounds or hotels if you can’t wild camp. This is definitely a tricky part of planning. Consult the route maps and lists of services to figure out daily mileages.

One tip with campsites- call ahead and ask if they have ‘hiker biker’ sites. those are reserved for people arriving on foot or bike, are generally cheaper and don’t require advanced booking. They are most commonly found in state and national parks.

Many states also have some type of “no turn away” policy for hikers and bikers. If for some reason a campground is full and you don’t have a reservation, they will find a spot for you somewhere. Every state is different, this site has links to all the states policies.

We usually bring all our gear for camping, but sometimes it's nice to have a bed!
We usually bring all our gear for camping, but sometimes it’s nice to have a bed!

There are so many ways to do bike travel. You can bring all your stuff with you and camp, or you can bring day packs and hotel it every night. You can do simple bike overnights on the weekends, or take a whole month (or more!) and cover serious miles. But when it comes down to the nitty gritty, the planning is similar:

  • you need to plan your route and daily mileage goals (including lodging/camp spots)
  • book lodging ahead of time if needed
  • you need to have a food plan
  • you need a gear list
  • you need a budget

Step Three: Save Up!

We live on a tight budget, so a big part of planning a bike trip is figuring out how to afford it. Our first step is figuring out how much is needed to cover the trip. People deal with finances and budgets differently, and you likely know what works for your family when it comes to vacations.

Make sure you factor in lodging, gas, food, and any other miscellaneous expenses. We always think we’ll save money by not driving as much, but in all reality, we spend a lot on food since we’re burning more energy than a road trip.

The other thing to consider is gear: do you need to invest in specific gear for bike travel or can you make do with what you already have? It’s necessary to have reliable bicycles, so that’s a priority. Other than that, most of your camping (backpacking) gear can double as bikepacking gear, if it’s lightweight and packable. There are lots of ways to carry your gear, which we’ll discuss a little later on.

A couple poses with their loaded touring bikes and a trailer.
Back in 2011 on our first tour- we still use much of the gear we bought back then.

Go for Quality

If you do need to invest in gear, and you plan on lots of future bike travel, make sure you get gear that is quality and will last. We still tour with most of the stuff we bought back in 2011 when we took our first trip, riding across Canada. Making your stuff last is a great way to save money.

Are you feeling overwhelmed by how much it might cost? Find ways to get creative to save on things or make use of what you already have. For example, if you choose a route where you can wild camp, you don’t need to pay campground or hotel fees. Don’t want to invest in spendy panniers? You can use (or borrow) a bike trailer to haul gear. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Step Four- Gear Up!

A dad and two children ride bikes loaded with bikepacking gear.
Bikepacking gear is a little different than road touring gear- what will fit your needs?

First things first, go through what you already have. Will your bikes be reliable enough for travel? If you’re wanting to carry panniers (this is my favorite way to haul gear), do you have a rack and panniers? What camping gear do you need to acquire?

How Do You Carry Kids?

Since this is a family oriented article, I’ll cover how to carry kids on a bike trip. We’ve used trailers (which can carry kids and gear!) like this Burley Encore X, seats on our bikes, like this Burley Dash, Follow-me-tandem couplers, and even tow ropes, like the TowWhee. Depending on the age and ability of your kids, you need to research which set-up will work best for you.

A family rides bikes while the dad tows a child with a bungee.
Baby bike seat or bungee? How about both?

How Do You Carry Gear?

As far as carrying gear, as I mentioned earlier, a pannier and racks to fit your bikes is a very convenient (but specific) way to carry gear. There are also different frame bags, handlebar bags and seat post bags if you need a lower profile or cannot use a standard rack (for example, if you’re using a mountain bike). If you need help finding a rack that fits your bike, visit your local bike shop and they can usually help.

If you have older kids, they can help carry gear as well. I started my kids with seat post racks that I strapped their sleeping bags to, since they’re light and a bit bulky. As they get older they’ve graduated to rear panniers and carry their own clothing and sleeping gear.

Here’s a basic list of gear to get you started:

  • Bikes and helmets
  • Rack/panniers/trailer (how will you carry stuff?)
  • Trailer, bike seat, or other ways to haul kids that are too small to ride independently
  • Bike repair kit- tools, pump, spare tubes, etc
  • Water bottles & purifier
  • Tent/ tarp
  • Sleeping bags/pads
  • Camp cook sets (stove, pots/pans, cutting board, knife, etc)
  • Clothing -riding clothes, camp clothes, warm or waterproof layers
  • Shoes for biking
  • Toiletries
  • Head lamps
  • First aid kit
  • Charging cords or battery packs
  • Stuff sacks for organizing gear

For more information on specific bike travel gear and other tips for touring with kids, check out our other article, Bicycle Touring with Kids!

In a perfect world, you can just go to REI and purchase everything you need. But most of us probably can’t realistically afford to do that. Luckily, there are lots of ways to save money on all this gear. Look for sales online, or look for items used on FB marketplace or elsewhere. I find most of my things second hand, especially big ticket items like bikes.

If you do need to buy new gear, you can feel better knowing it’s a good investment that you’ll likely use a lot. Most of the things on this list you will use for more than just bike travel, hopefully incorporating them into your everyday life.

For example, I invested in merino wool shirts for all of us for bike trips, since merino is great to wear for several days in a row and it doesn’t hold stink. But we regularly use these shirts for hiking or everyday wear so it feels more worth it to me.

Step Five- Practice!

Now that you have a plan and have acquired all the gear you’ll need, it’s time to practice using it! Get everything loaded onto your bike so you know how you like it packed. Figure out what you need easily accessible and pack those things accordingly. Find out where everything fits the best.

Next, take a practice ride with your load. We like to take an overnight shakedown ride before a big trip, just to make sure we have everything we might want, and nothing we won’t need. This can be simple. Ride to a local state park or campground and try to use everything. Get a feel for how everything and everyone will handle a bike trip. Figure out what and how much food you’ll want.

A family poses with loaded touring bikes in front of the Teton mountains.
All loaded up for a practice bike overnight in Grand Teton N.P.

Preparation Includes Learning

Finally, prep yourself with all the knowledge you’ll need to take care of yourselves and your bikes. Maybe there’s a bike maintenance course you could sign up for through your local bike shop. Make sure you feel comfortable fixing simple things on your bike, like chain issues, brake issues, and flat tires. Learn how to use all the tools you’ll be bringing. Check out our other article, Bike Maintenance Basics for Families.

Safety First

It doesn’t hurt to make sure you feel comfortable performing first aid on your family as well. Ideally, you’ll only need to worry about band-aids or ibuprofen, but if one of you has a crash or something more serious happens (allergic reactions, or illness) do you know what to do? Our sister site, Tales of a Mountain Mama, has a great article to learn some safety hacks for outdoor families, if you want to check it out: First Aid Hacks on the Trail. Also check this bike specific one, Family Cycling Safety Tips.

Step Six- Get Organized

You’re getting close to launch time. Time to get the specifics nailed down. Refer to your route plan, and make sure you have your mileages and nights planned, lodging booked, and shuttles booked (if necessary). Time to get your food plan organized as well. Which meals will you be cooking yourself vs eating out? It may help to write out a menu so you can grocery shop beforehand or plan grocery stops.

Food Plan

If you need ideas, we have several articles on camping food, but start with this one, Backpacking Food Ideas for Families. Backpacking and bikepacking food can be pretty interchangeable. Dehydrated food is nice and light and easy.

We also like to stop at grocery stores to keep fresh ingredients in the mix, which is a little different than backpacker meals. Often, I’ll plan for breakfast and dinner cooked at camp, with lunch on the road, either at a cafe or pre-packed sandwiches, cheese and crackers, etc. We find cafes help break up the day and give us some variety. Also, LOTS of snacks!

Organize Clothing

Now is also the time to get all your clothing and camping gear organized. Remember, you are carrying everything on your bike, so keep it simple! 1 to 2 pair of riding clothes, a pair of camp clothes/ thermals to sleep in, socks, undies, and warm layers if you need them.

We like wool because it doesn’t stink and it’s temperature regulating, so we can bring less. We use shorts that can double as swim shorts if needed. Try to pack things that can serve more than one purpose. I promise, you will need less clothing than you think.

Get everything packed in packing cubes or stuff sacks, buy any last minute items (travel toothpaste, batteries, sunscreen!) and generally get feeling like you’re ready to go!

Step Seven: Go!

I know by now you’re feeling like there is so much to do. Don’t let this trip you up. You don’t need everything perfectly planned to be able to go. If you’re planning a last minute trip or your anxiety is making you feel stuck, you can still pull it off!

I’ve taken trips where I didn’t have the mileage or campsites nailed down. I don’t always have a perfect meal plan (or a meal plan at all). It will all work out. You can figure it out on the way or on the road. The hardest step is getting out the door, so just do it!

Even with a perfectly planned trip, things will go wrong. There’s always something that doesn’t work out. Or several things! That’s part of the adventure. Be resilient, be creative, be patient, and trust your family to work together. Figuring out challenges together as you go will create those memories that you’ll cherish later.

Adventure Awaits!

A family runs toward the ocean with bikes beside them on the beach.

Above all, be excited about all the experiences you can have out there! You’ll meet amazing people, see amazing things, watch your kids (and yourself) develop grit and get stronger, and create stronger bonds. Every moment won’t be perfect, and there will be lots of hard, maybe some tears, probably some whining, and definitely some doubts. But, those are all the hallmarks of real family adventure, so get out there!

The bottom line is bike touring with your family can be a great and rewarding adventure. Dream some dreams, make some lists and plans, gather up some gear, and get out there. It takes some planning and flexibility but it is 100% worth it in the end!

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How to Get Started: Family Bike Touring

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