Essential Cycling Skills for Families

Cycling as a family is great way to spend time together and explore your surroundings, so we’ve created a series of videos explaining the essential skills you need to cycle confidently.

Here is a series of short films to help families cycle more confidently together. Each film focuses on different stages of a cycling journey and features the four core functions used in Bikeability training:

Look – make good and frequent observations
Position – choose and maintain the most suitable riding positions
Communicate – signal intentions clearly to others
Prioritise – understand priorities on the road, particularly at junctions.

Each of the films also demonstrates the systematic routines in which these functions are used ie:

Plan well in advance, anticipate and respond to on-road situations
Select the most suitable riding positions for different parts of the journey
Look behind before communicating intentions and changing riding positions
Know when to give way to others and when to take priority assertively.

Download the Bikeability Parent’s Handbook for more advice on family cycling.

Cycling Journeys

Cycling essential skills for families: linked journeys

This film collects all the cycling journeys shown in the films below.

Play Video

Prepare for cycling and cycle control

Prepare for cycling

Fitting helmets and checking clothes and cycles.

Play Video

Off-road cycling

Children demonstrating their cycle handling skills.

Play Video

Cycling on the road

Starting and stopping on-road journeys

Systematic routine for starting on-road journeys:

1. Look for following and approaching traffic, prioritise who goes first, before placing cycles on road
2. Place cycles on the road, look for following traffic, set off when clear
3. Look for following traffic, select and maintain the most appropriate riding positions, continue journey

Systematic routine for stopping on-road journeys:

1. Look for following traffic before slowing down
2. Look for following traffic before changing riding position
3. Look for following traffic before removing cycles from the road

Starting and stopping
on-road journeys

Play Video

Passing parked vehicles

Systematic routine for passing parked vehicles:

1. Look for following and approaching traffic, prioritise who goes first
2. Look for following and approaching traffic, select the most appropriate riding positions, pass parked vehicle when clear *
3. Look in front of parked vehicle, select the most appropriate riding positions, continue journey

* Riding positions must maintain at least a door’s length away from stationary vehicles

Passing parked vehicles

Play Video

Negotiating junctions

Systematic routine for negotiating junctions:

1. Approaching junctions
a. look for following traffic, prioritise who goes first, communicate intentions if necessary
b. select the most appropriate riding positions for negotiating the junction

2. Using junctions
a. look for approaching traffic, prioritise who goes first *
b. maintain the most appropriate riding positions for negotiating the junction

3. Exiting junctions
a. maintain the most appropriate riding positions for negotiating the junction
b. look for following traffic, select the most appropriate riding positions for continuing journey

* Riding positions must maintain at least a door’s length away from stationary vehicles