Trying out the trailer

Amy and I finally got around to getting a helmet for Liam (check flickr for some photos) so that we could try out the chariot as a bike trailer. We've been wanting to go riding as a family since Amy got her new bike, but just haven't been able to find a helmet for Liam. We checked a few places and they all seemed to be too big. In the end, we ended up getting the smallest one we could find (at Kundstadt sports in Kanata) and used that. It is a tad too big, but he'll grow into it.

As for the ride itself, we went for a short trip down the TC trail - heading west. We rode out to Jinkinson Rd and back. Liam was good for most of the ride, but on the return trip his helmet starting bothering him. It was falling down over his eyes a bit and he wasn't too happy about that. We probably did around 12 km in all, and all in all I think it was a good first family ride. (I am glad I had done 30 km earlier in the day on my road bike though) I didn't know what to expect when pulling the chariot - I had never ridden with a trailer before. Turns out it was pretty smooth. My acceleration definitely suffered, but since it was a leisurely ride, that didn't matter much. I was a bit nervous (or perhaps overly cautious is a better term) when passing through narrow openings (like the ends of the trail near roadways) but I'm sure I'll get more of a feeling for that as time goes on. Anyways, good times. I match the chariot pretty well eh? :)

Here is Amy on her new bike: