I have a holiday in the alps booked but have recently suffered a bout of glandular fever and my fitness has suffered as a result.

In order to build strength to hit those alpine climbs I have decided to try and haul ass up steep hills with my 10kg baby girl in a 13kg trailer.

Have any other dads noticed any fitness gains using this technique?

Fundamentally it’s just about producing an amount of power for a period of time. You could do it on the turbo. You could pull a trailer. You could just ride harder. If the trailer is convenient and doubles as childcare then go for it! I think Matt Bottrill (one of the top UK time trialists) does a lot of work with his kids in a trailer just because it’s convenient, so you’re in good company 🙂

Edit.. would add that riding back down the steep hill with a heavy trailer can be a little dicey!

Worth noting that standing on the pedals results in the trailer swinging violently left and right which the little ones don’t like particularly. You won’t need a steep hill imo a gentle incline is more than enough to build up strength. A head wind works wonders too as it’s like trying to tow a brick wall behind your bike.

Not sure about fitness gains but this is enough to have your eyes pop out riding up the slightest incline

Not only for resistance training. I find bench-pressing our boy is good upper body workout and he finds it hilarious 😀

^^^ and once you get used to the weight they have a growth spurt!

@caspian – how do you actually get on/off the bike with a kid in that rear seat?

Is there a nack to it?

4 year old and 18 month old sat on my back as I do press-ups is amazing for upper body and core 😀

That’s twice I’ve seen the term ‘haul ass’ here in 2 days

tut tut..

I ride all around London with my son in the bike seat on the back of my single speed. The hills of North London with the bike itself, the seat and him on it mean I’ve now got upgraded super strong legs! 😆

Got to get the exercise where you can. 🙂

And andybanks, I step off over the top tube which is a tad tricky but can be done quite easily particularly if you time it so the standing leg is just going over the top of a pedal stroke – gives you a good platform to step from.

@caspian – how do you actually get on/off the bike with a kid in that rear seat?

Is there a nack to it?

Pole vault to toptube/gooch

What you need is a tallforhisage 4 year-old on a tag along refusing to pedal on the inclines.
Mentally scarred – moi? 😈

There’s a hill in Sheffield, through the parks, affectionately known by many as per this segement title – http://www.strava.com/segments/the-bastard-921749?hl=en-GB

It’s a good challenge on its own. Last year I dug in and got up it on my Mega, 1×10. With a trailer on. And a wee fella in the back. The all up vehicle/payload weight was 80lbs-ish! Managed it 3 times – but that was 6 months ago now. I’m putting off a repeat trip now he’s 2 2/3 and about twice the weight!

No issues with standing, or coming back down. Trailer rock solid and he loved it, espcially the flapjack stop at the top.

He also doubles as a very wriggly medicine ball for great core strength excercises!

Has worked well for me in the past. House to the top of the hill in Dalby is about 25 minutes of climbing. Feels a lot harder and longer done on this…

[url=https://flic.kr/p/bx1C9u]Really didn't think I'd clean _that_ hill pulling _this_ lot! #goodlegs[/url] by Jonathan Bateman, on Flickr

Singlespeed and added balance bike for extra pain 😉

Proper pro level is SS bike with tag along and toying a double trailer. That hurt a lot.