Hi,

We have a kids ride shotgun seat that my wee one loves.

Out today in 5 degrees for a short ride.

In: normal 3y 11 month year old clothes- t-shirt, trousers, jumper+ puffa jacket, big skiing socks, snow boots, hat, gloves and a big waterproof snow suit on over the top of it all.

Pogies- oven gloves with weather proof fabric glued on top or the top of the gloves.

He was cold after 10 min so we went home.

Specifically he complained about his feet being cold.

The plan was he would ride his balance bike for a bit, get hot and layers would come off, but he refused and just wanted to ride on the shotgun seat.

Any suggestions? I’m reluctant to accept the obvious no riding below 6 degrees, but there’s no point if it’s not fun. Sometimes he will run up the hills ( toasty), today he wouldn’t.

Don’t forget rocket fuel (favourite snacks etc) at regular intervals, that helps them warm from the inside. Sounds like you’re already doing what you can on the foot warmth front to be honest, maybe kiddo just wasn’t feeling it today. We’ve got a load of cheap snoods, skull caps (thin under helmet) and ski gloves from Decathlon which is enough to keep ours happy – had them out for a 2hr ride yesterday and they would’ve cracked on for longer! 4 and 2.5yo.

my grandkids, 4 and 3 are so different. 4 year old dont feel cold, he has a snow suit which is ok with normal clothes.once out, he wont come back in, has me riding round local field in the rain all the time.

3 year old is very cold blooded i thing. fleece tracksuit, snow suit, and a bigger insulated suit. and she still dont like being outside.

Not much you can do beyond what you’ve done tbh. We had a similar situation today despite aaallll the layers being on. Frustrating but just one of the joys of winter riding (makes note not to bother driving anywhere again when it’s cold out)

Ive been guilty of not considering how cold my daughter would get on the macride last year. Temp seemed fine to me cos I was happily pedalling away and keeping heart rate up etc. For a static passenger with nothing but wind chill it must be grim.

Sounds like your wrapping up well enough. So either it was just one of them days or maybe you could add more frequent breaks to walk about and get blood flowing. I imagine feet get cold without much circulation going on.

Thanks!

Maybe we should have just stayed at home today

I used to put Thump in an adult nylon windproof jacket. Went over the top of his torso and arms and hands, and covered his legs.
Was just enough to keep the wind off.

My kids have been out in lower temperatures with a similar layer and no complaints, are you sure he was actually cold vs just complaining? Or possible the boots were too tight cutting circulation? Assuming the snowsuit is insulated I don’t think there’s anything more you can do.

I found even in summer my daughter would need to be fairly well wrapped up. Colder ride would be fleece lined over trousers, thick socks, wellies, buff, mittens, winter coat and cuddles when the terrain allows. And if terrain allows, put their hands under yours.

I remember one ride over ogden moors. I got to the top, about the half way point and he started crying. I thought the amount of clothes he had on he would be fine but it was the constant wind battering his face at the top and him not riding. He cried all the way home. I felt like a terrible dad. Once he warmed up he said he had fun. We didn’t go out again when it was cold or windy or we picked lower rides out of the wind with a cafe stop half way round for a hot chocolate. 

We are probably warm because we have our child providing a nice wind barrier for us haha.

Looks like you have him wrapped up pretty warm. The only thing I can think of in your set-up is the boots might be too tight for the socks – either his feet are too cold or they’re just uncomfortable and he’s using a bit of proxy language. The other option that springs to mind is that he just wasn’t up for it cos he was tired/lurgy/hungry and cold feet was just his code for ‘CBA’.

Here’s hoping it gets fun for him again.

If you want to cut wind-chill, one of these works well (I used one when my kid was down a size and on a weeride) https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/134782064246?_ul=GB&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338990945&toolid=10001&customid=eb%3Ag%3Avms%3Aeb%3Ap%3A134782064246%3BCj0KCQiAr8eqBhD3ARIsAIe-buOyayee2fkj7rmSfx1jPL0_W9ZN1oyWYWAWebQZxqraXCkQScq8F10aAn1JEALw_wcB&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3A1gbRLR9v3SN-ri_RHIRB7Pg77&gclid=Cj0KCQiAr8eqBhD3ARIsAIe-buOyayee2fkj7rmSfx1jPL0_W9ZN1oyWYWAWebQZxqraXCkQScq8F10aAn1JEALw_wcB

Doesn’t do much for feet specifically though

I was going to recommend something like the wind visor type thing above. Think Thule make one as well

its frikkin freezing out front. The only real downside to these kinds of seats. We found that full sou’wester style waterproofs (preferably dungarees and separate jacket) were needed on top of a snow suit keep the cold at bay. We also used Kamik or Sorel snow boots a size up from usual with big thick socks.  kid’s age 2-4 gloves are utter shite. Lego make great gauntlet ski mittens that don’t really matter if they’re on properly as they’re so long. HellyHanson/polarnopyret/trollkids all make superb stuff for this kind of activity as most Finnish kindergartens are outdoor through the winter. Tkmaxx and Sportpursuit have no idea what they sell so we’d scour their sites for kids bargains (think we never paid more than about £15 for any of their proper snow boots).

Thanks again,

Maybe his boots are too tight, we will have a looks and see.

The woolen gloves and pogies seem to be doing the trick for his hands.

The windscreen looks good. He might be getting taken to and from nursery more over the winter.

Can you adjust the foot position on the seat you’ve got? The extra clothes and growing child may mean that too much of a knee bend is causing a circulation issue.

We found our kids often felt chilly on slightly warm days. It’s surprising how cold they got.

Decent snow boots?
We’ve had some right nightmares with family/friends visiting from the UK during the winter.
“they’re fleece lined”
Basically a thin coating of some fleece glued to the inside of a rubber welly… not gonna cut it
Or insulation that packs down as soon as the boot is put on. Cheap moon boots basically.

Rear mounted carrier. On the front they get the wind full on. On the rear they have you as a wind shield

were his feet to tight with big socks and boots on? that might have made them feel like there feet were cold?

woodlikesbikes
Free Member
Rear mounted carrier. On the front they get the wind full on. On the rear they have you as a wind shield

You’re not wrong, but they are far less fun and not sure I’d want to use one on a lot of the riding we do

you could try this instead of the pogies. I was going to buy pogies for ours when I found this in a drawer. Obviously you can’t do up the middle poppers, but that means you end up with a sort of wedge shaped wind block coming up their elbows and down over their knees. might try to rig something to go up and round over the shoulders, using the spare middle poppers.

Edit: take the space out, link preview didn’t work:

https://www.ama zon.co.uk/Stroller-Pushchair-Gloves-Waterproof-Anti-Freeze/dp/B0BP11CMPN

Edit again: for £8, another one of these is probably the most straightforward way to do it. I’ll let you know how I get on – fingers crossed the poppers match!

Yepp do a windscreen but is is specific for their seat.  It is brilliant at keeping the worst off.

Failing a windscreen you need a kids cycling cape – cant find our specific one but looks very similar to this.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/bike-child-seat-waterproof-poncho-red/_/R-p-X8745144

yep, buy two pushchair muffs, pop them together: warm, fluffy, weatherproof windshield from knees over hands on bars, up over the shoulders.  Stays put just draped over shoulders for 2 mile nursery run. An elastic velcro loop will be useful on longer rides and off road.

Taking kids to nursery on the bike regardless of the weather is “character building”..

@5lab

I’m not sure I’d be taking myself out on the bike on those days 😂 

I took my wee one in today- 9 degrees, mild drizzle. “Daddy, pick me up in the car not the bike “

I’ll give that windscreen a whirl.

We’re still figuring cold weather kit out but so far this winter found a decathlon kids hiking poncho over everything including the bars helps breaks the wind a bit further out, which seems to help our 2yo. Other than that try not to ride too long and factor in a warm stop- she’s mostly the most insistent one to go out even when it’s raining!

Last winter when strapped into a Thule front seat we had a fleecy blanket we wrapped round her but that’s a bit impractical on the macride.

oh yeah bribery goes a long way. On cold rides my kids get sweets for energy and a hot chocolate halfway round

When he was on the back seat I converted a sleeping bag for a cover.

I might give that a go for the front