Kids and bikes: one of the most natural combinations in the world, and also one of the most eagerly searched topics at Bike Auckland. Our lists of great places to ride with children have always been popular, especially every time the holidays roll around!
Now we’ve taken a step up, with a new searchable database of great rides that you can filter by location, ability level, and other features. We’re delighted to launch this fabulous resource, brought to you by hours of behind-the-scenes work by a dedicated volunteer, Tracey-Lee Pettifer, and our wonderful pro-bono technical and design team at Sandfield.
As Tracey-Lee knows from experience, advance knowledge is like gold when you’re wrangling small dependents. She not only nudged this resource into existence, but has spent the last year exploring playgrounds and paths all over the city to gather all the info in one place for you.
Here’s Tracey’s story of how she got involved:
As parents to two young kids, we love biking and wanted to find some rides around Auckland that would suit our children. We were also at the stage of trying to fit in a ride between naps. So we wanted to know where we could confidently go, knowing exactly where to park, that the ride was completely off-road, and whether we could promise a play in a playground or an ice-cream (or grab ourselves a coffee!).
But when we looked online for ideas, it was hard to find information, and what was out there wasn’t always detailed enough.
Luckily, we happened to know someone who belongs to Bike Auckland, who asked what a great resource for parents in our position would look like… and the idea grew. (So did our kids – but we’re still loving finding new locations and trying them out!)
Tracey-Lee and her children – out and about finding places to ride!
The aim is to make it easier for other parents and caregivers to check out some of the fantastic facilities we have in Auckland, by giving you all the information you need to know in advance when you have small kids in tow. Location, ability level, bathrooms, refreshments – and there’s an option to filter the rides, so you can find what’s available in a specific area or at a particular ability level.
With 10 kid-friendly rides already up and another 20 in the pipeline, I hope this will become the go-to site for all families whenever they’re looking for a bike ride.
Different families will have different priorities and are looking for different experiences, so we’re keen to make the collection as broad as we can. I know the biking community has heaps of local knowledge about other spots we can add in, and I look forward to other keen people sharing their favourite places to ride.
P.S. I also warmly invite people to join the Bike Auckland with Kids group, where we share and discuss great places to ride with children.
Our huge thanks to Tracey, and to everyone else who’s keen to help us grow this resource. As well as rolling out more kids’ rides in coming weeks, we’ll be expanding our coverage to all kinds of routes for all kinds of riders.
If you have a ride you’d love to share – whether for kids or adults – please get in touch! In the meantime, enjoy our new-look Rides page:
Bike Auckland is the non-profit organisation working to improve things for people on bikes. We’re a people-powered movement for a better region. We speak up for you – and the more of us there are, the stronger our voice!
