Today we went to a Triangle Mommies event hosted by a new friend of mine, Heather. She has a son who is exactly 1 year younger than Eliza. Once he's old enough, I'm sure we'll be trying to meet up more often for playdates at the park! She lives not too far away from us, so when she invited me to come to the event, I said yes and planned to ride my bike there if the weather was agreeable. And it was! For mid-December, it was warm enough to dress Eliza in Capri-length pants and a short-sleeved t-shirt! Amazing weather!
The event was a Cookie Exchange, where you make a certain number of cookies or brownies, and all the people coming to the exchange bring a different kind. Then you set up your cookies at a big table and everyone brings an empty container to collect cookies in. You walk around the table and pick up a cookie from each person's plate. And you keep going around and around, picking up 1 cookie/brownie from each, until all the cookies are gone. So, I made 3 dozen "magic cookie bars" and I came home with 8 magic cookie bars, 8 mint chocolate chip cookies, 8 lemon bars, 8 oreo-smash-pops, 8 white chocolate & butterscotch cookies, and a few pieces of homemade peanut brittle. Yum yum! I had a lot of fun at the event. Heather is a great host with a great big house that's perfect for entertaining! I can only dream of owning a house like that someday!
On the bike ride home, I knew Eliza would fall asleep because it was close to her naptime, and she usually falls asleep during bike rides anyway, even if it's not her naptime! Well, when I got home, I saw Eliza slumped over and she looked so uncomfortable, and I wondered how she could sleep that way!
I've seen her like this many times before this, and I just cringe when I see it. I've never taken a picture of her like this before, though. Why? I think because I'm trying to show others who are reading this blog that cycling with kids can be fun and enjoyable for both parent and child. But a picture like this makes the viewer feel nothing but sad for the poor child riding in the bike trailer. I mean, seriously, I know kids can sleep in all kinds of weird positions, but do you WANT them to be uncomfortable like this every time they ride for an extended amount of time in a bike trailer? I know I don't.
So I'd ignored it for months, but today, something got into me and made me really angry. I was mad at how crappy this bike trailer is designed. How can any bike trailer company design person be proud of their creation when seeing a picture like this? How can any bike shop owner or bike shop sales guy be positive and upbeat when selling these trailers to customers, when they know the bike trailer product they're selling is total crap? When we first started using the bike trailer, Eliza was barely 11 months old, and I thought maybe Eliza was just slouching in her seat in the trailer, and maybe when she got older/stronger, she'd be able to keep herself upright more during bike rides? That sadly wasn't the case, as she is now 21 months old and is a strong/sturdy little girl who knows how to sit upright. It's the design of the seat and the straps that makes this bike trailer uncomfortable and leads to the slouching and leaning over to the side!
I made up my mind that today's bike ride in our Kid-A-Rooz bike trailer would be Eliza's last ride. I cannot, as a long time bicycle enthusiast, subject my daughter to such poor bike trailer design!
I tried looking up as much information as possible on the Kid-A-Rooz brand, but didn't find much. What I did find was some info that led me to believe that Chariot bike trailers (and Chariot is the best trailer company in the world right now...yes, that's my honest opinion) bought out Kid-A-Rooz and their inventory, slapped their name in small embroidery print under the Kid-A-Rooz name, and began selling them at Costco, Sam's Club and finally, Performance Bicycles. I am not blaming any company in particular here, as I know that each company is just looking at their bottom line, and if they can make a few bucks profit selling a crappy product, they will. But, with our employee discount, we couldn't pass up the great deal on our Kid-A-Rooz trailer.
My complaints about design are not unique. If you do a Google search on "kid slumping over in bike trailer", you will find a lot of reviews of people saying the same thing I'm saying here. I'm not going to put my child in a trailer that's uncomfortable, just like I wouldn't ride a saddle that was uncomfortable and caused me private-lady-parts-pain! If I had a saddle that was uncomfortable like that, I would stop riding and begin researching saddles and would resume riding once I found a more suitable replacement saddle. So...that's what I'm going to do!
I don't know yet what trailer we'll end up buying, but I think it's going to be a Chariot Cougar 2. Chariot has done a complete redesign of their trailers and they've addressed this common slumping-over problem. I am finding some great reviews online on this trailer, and I've tested it out in person at our local REI, who stocks the Cougar 1 (same trailer as Cougar 2, just a 1-seater instead of 2). The bottom part of the seat is NOT a hammock-style, and the straps are an actual 5-point harness style, much like a modern car seat's harness. But, I'm still in the research stage, so nothing's is written in stone yet. Hopefully we can have our research done and be ready to buy a new trailer come next spring.
I hate that I sound so negative in this blog post. I'm sorry! I just wanted to give you an honest look at our bike trailer and show you that it's not as great as I may have led you to believe in my previous "We went for a bike ride today and Eliza LOVES her bike trailer" blog posts. I still do love cycling and introducing Eliza to the sport of cycling in this way, but we must take a break for now and look for a better trailer. If you have any experience with a bike trailer that your child was comfortable in, or a similar experience where your child was slumped over and uncomfortable, please leave me a comment here on the blog. Thanks!
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