Biking for the Whole Family

With the warm weather, we've started to immerse ourselves in the local bike culture by going on family bike rides on the paths near our house. In March, Landon learned how to ride his bike without training wheels, and I've been pleasantly surprised by his endurance and speed. Last weekend, we went for a ride with Willem behind Bob in the bike trailer, and Landon and I were on our bikes. We rode for nearly 10 kilometers (6 miles), most of which was on pathways for bikes and walkers, without the stresses of the streets. I've also been getting out on my bike solo for a couple of rides to preview trails or just to enjoy exploring via the backroads. The scenery is lovely with wooden covered bridges and streams following the paths. It's also a fun way to get exercise and the steep hill up to our house is certainly a good motivator.

With all this bike riding, Willem was itching to get on his own bike and his tricycle wasn't going to cut it. I've been searching for his own bike over the last month or so and finally found a great used one. In order to look for a used bike (new ones are hard to find for his size and are expensive), I felt like I had to navigate an underground of networks to find something before everyone else. First, I looked at ricardo.ch, which is similar to eBay with a bidding structure. However, quality used kids' bikes quickly escalated in price, and not many were available in our area. Then, I discovered the frequent spring kinderbörse sales (second-hand). Of course, many other people are also looking for bikes come spring, so any bikes for sale disappeared quickly. (Although, the kids enjoyed finding some new t-shirts and puzzles along the way at these events.) I even started exploring the local "brockenstubes", which are donation/resale centers. This searching was not all a lost cause -- my German definitely benefited from all of the interaction in mostly Deutsch-only environments. In the end, we found the bike through an online swap-site at Bob's workplace.

Willem was on his first ride today, and I'm so proud of him! He is really excited to be on his bike and we're ready to continue checking out new local rides and destinations. With over 100 national, regional and local Swiss bike trails, we've got a lot to keep us busy. The bike routes are posted by number and clearly identified. Sometimes the routes follow the roads, but the roads also tend to be well-marked with separate biking lanes. We also have the option to take our bikes on the trams or trains, so we can have an alternate (i.e. quicker) way to get home if necessary. We love that Basel is such a bike friendly city, even with underground parking for velos (the French word for bike is used here).

Adieu!