I recently gave a talk and slide show about family-friendly bike rides in Maine and the rest of New England, as part of the L.L.Bean Bike Into Spring weekend. A Portland dad with two kids asked me a question that I was hard pressed to answer. He wondered if there are any family bike clubs, or bike clubs that organize family rides. I was stumped, and so were the other bike enthusiasts there.

Are there any clubs that organize family rides on a regular basis? If not, why not? If you bike with kids, would you like doing a group ride? I've heard rumors that a few organizations have started to talk about organizing family bike events and I'll be looking into this more, possibly for an upcoming column. Personally, I love the idea. Maybe it's once a month at a different place each time. Your kids get to meet other kids who like to ride, you get to swap stories and tips about places to ride, and, in my ideal ride, there's ice cream at the end.