Travel is great, sure, but when it's done by bike and with three children under six, those trips sometimes turn into adventures.
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The team members are listed in descending order:
Jérémie, 36 years old, super dad and tandem pilot.
Mary, 29, super mom and stoker of the tandem.
Simon, 5 years old, super big brother and curious sibling.
Margaux, 4 years old, super middle sister and daredevil of the family.
Samuel, 3 years old, super little brother and troublemaker of the family.
We've arranged to meet up with the whole family in Breitenau to hear their increasingly numerous stories of their family cycling adventures along the cycle paths here and elsewhere.
-Hello Mary, hello Jeremy, hello children.
Could you start by completing the short presentation I made about the family?
Who is who and who does what?
I think everything has been said above :D.
-It was, it is, and it will be, here it is, the traditional and no less famous question:
"Are you from the Villé valley?"
Jérémie is from Breitenbach. Mary is from Hindisheim (the flatlands, the cornfields… over there). We've lived in the Valley since 2015, and our three children are 100% Vallée de Villé natives.
-In life you don't just cycle. Can you tell us about your daily life, you and the children?
A daily life at 200 miles an hour, like descending the Champ du Feu on a tandem bicycle, with 3 children and brakes that fail (this is based on experience)!
Jérémie is the operations manager at Girold Constructions Bois in Barr, and Mary is an assistant in a rural veterinary practice in Sélestat. Besides that, we have the gîte, which is always full (the valley is very popular!), and the three children have been in school since September. No time to be bored.
-What do you like about the Villé valley?
The stunning landscapes, the warm locals, the events that take place throughout the year, the diversity of local shops and services, the opportunity to buy local in many areas.
-Okay, let's get down to business!
How and when did you get into cycling?
By sheer chance in 2015: we went to Trocathlon in Colmar to look for a bike for Jérémie and there… we fell in love with a tandem for sale! A quick test in the Decathlon parking lot and off we went with it.
-This passion of the couple has apparently become a family passion.
Did you start with Simon and adapt the equipment as you went along, or did you start cycling as a family once the three children were born?
Since the children were born in quick succession, we bought everything at once.
We took our first bike trip in 2016, just the two of us, when I was pregnant with Simon. Our second bike trip was in 2017, when we were pregnant with Margaux, and it was our first holiday with Grandma and Grandpa, as she was too young to take along during the heatwave. 2018, our third pregnancy, was more complicated, so no bike trip. And in 2019, we were planning our wedding, so no bike trip, but the most wonderful wedding gift: our Moustache electric tandem bike, its child seat, and its two-seater trailer. The beginning of our adventures as a family of three!
-Speaking of equipment, I know that you are rather, and even remarkably, well equipped.
Can you tell us a little bit about your bike(s) and trailers?
We chose the best: a Moustache electric-assist tandem, made in the Vosges. Two batteries for maximum range!
For the children we have a Croozer kid for two trailer, it is large, the children have plenty of room and there is still a large trunk for shopping / luggage.
The third child is on a child seat on the luggage rack (Hamac Siesta), adjustable in tilt, they can sleep in it without any problem.
And recently we bought the Weehoo double trailer which allows the children to pedal one behind the other.
-How much does the whole thing weigh?
The tandem bike weighs about 30 kg, the trailer about 14 kg. The five of us together must weigh close to 200 kg. I'll let you do the math! On flat ground, no problem, but as soon as there's an incline, we regret yesterday's raclette!
-Would it be possible for you without your super electric-assist tandem?
No, definitely not. At least not with three children in the back and not on any inclines.
It can be done on a flat surface. We hadn't tested it at the time.
-Mary, Jérémie, can you tell us about your experiences of "rides" with your horse-drawn carriage?
Aside from our summer cycling trips, we try to do some nice bike rides in the area. We like to visit "iconic" places in Alsace, starting from home whenever possible. We've cycled up to Champ du Feu, Haut-Koenigsbourg Castle, Honel, Ungersberg, and so on. This summer, we went to see Strasbourg Cathedral, passing over the Steige pass and then cycling down the entire Bruche Valley (a superb, brand-new cycle path the whole way – the Villé Valley could learn a thing or two!), then along the Bruche Canal to Strasbourg.
-I heard about taking a train back and forth to move belongings and have less to carry while cycling. Can you tell us about it?
For our first family trip, we decided to keep the car nearby with our evening/nighttime gear to avoid being weighed down during the day. So, Jérémie would get up early in the morning, gather everything (clothes, travel cot, etc.), drive to the next stop, and then take the train back to us (we had specifically chosen hotels near the train station). I would get the children up, have breakfast with them, make breakfast for Jérémie, and pack our panniers for the day.
On the first day we did the opposite: we left the car in Metz and then took the train with the tandem bike, the trailer, and the three children to Thionville. A great experience for everyone.
-Do you already have enough experience to tell us about a good and a bad memory?
A bad memory: in 2020, we cycled the last section of EuroVelo Route 6 from Cosnes-Cour-sur-Loire to the ocean. We broke our chain in the morning, which was temporarily repaired with the help of other cyclists. We managed to get to a bike shop to get a new one fitted. In the afternoon, we dropped off our luggage at our hotel in Guérande and then cycled down to the ocean to enjoy the beach. When we tried to leave, the chain (brand new that day) broke again. The tools were at the hotel. We had to walk 10km in the dark and then spent a good hour trying to fix something with the hotel night watchman's tools. We had an early train the next day from La Baule, and we were stressed about not being able to catch it and exhausted from a long day. Of course, the next day, when we arrived at the station, we learned that the train was canceled and there was no alternative. What a nightmare!
Everything else is just good memories.
-What advice would you give to families who would like to embark on this kind of adventure?
Go for it! 😀
It's obviously not all sunshine and roses at every kilometer (fatigue, difficult weather, mechanical or physical problems, whiny children…), but the trip is worth it.
-Do you absolutely have to be a great athlete or is it accessible to everyone?
With electric bikes, I think it's become accessible to everyone. Whether you're a serious athlete or not, you'll still have a sore bum after two days of cycling!
-How did you prepare for your trips and do you use apps to navigate?
We did some online research to decide on our route, then picked up some paper maps from tourist offices along the way. For accommodation, the two of us booked places day by day (bed and breakfasts, hotels, etc.), while the five of us booked the day before to be sure we had somewhere to sleep.
-What is the most difficult aspect in terms of logistics?
Cycling? Finding a way to charge everything? Managing the kids? Managing battery life?
Managing the children, obviously 😀!
Joking aside, having little ones involves a lot more logistics: changing diapers for the youngest, the older two needing to use the toilet, finding playgrounds for them to let off steam, ice cream to satisfy their hunger, preparing more or less balanced meals for 5, finding accommodation big enough for everyone to rest, …
-In terms of budget, what does that represent for a family of 5 people?
In our case, we opted for the comfort of a good night's sleep and stayed in hotels. This kept the budget within a typical family vacation range. Camping seemed a bit premature with the little ones, but it would have been less expensive.
-And in the valley? You often go for walks around our place!
What is your favorite walk?
What we love most is never doing the same hike twice. So we don't have a favorite hike; all the scenery in the Valley is wonderful!
We are currently planning a tandem bike tour of the valley as a family. It's not easy to manage to pass through all the villages without going over the same place twice.
-If you had to choose only one place in our country, where would it be?
The Chena.
We were talking a while ago about a family from Lyon who are traveling across Europe and the world by bicycle. Do you have any plans for a similar trip?
Not especially. It requires time, several weeks of availability for this type of trip. We don't have that.
I think there is already a lot to see in France before discovering the rest of the world.
-So what would be your ultimate dream for a cycling trip with all five of you?
Let the children cycle! And let cycle paths flourish all over France.
-Mary, is Jeremy a good pilot?
If he isn't, I'll pinch his bum! He's sometimes a little dizzy and doesn't see the direction signs, but he has the reflexes of an airline pilot: he'll never tell his crew when the engines (=batteries) are going to fail.
-Jeremie, is Mary a good "Stokeuse"?
Mary is a good tourist, she enjoys the side landscapes, takes photos, follows the route on the map… But whether she actually cycles, that's another story.
-The tandem is a very good exercise to strengthen a couple and help them talk to each other… but it can also turn into a squabble!
Do you have an anecdote about this that you could share with us?
No arguments so far, but long moments of silence, especially when we can't take it anymore, both of us, at the end of the day, when our butts hurt, when we have a headwind and we're not making any progress, when we thought we'd do 100 kilometers during the day but there are still 20 left before reaching our place to sleep.
-When are you leaving?
Next summer, we'll be cycling with the two older kids! We just need to find a flat route suitable for children. In the meantime, we'll continue exploring the paths and trails of the valley and Alsace.
Thank you to all 5 of you for sharing your travel secrets with us and for giving us the time to talk.
