Sarah Mitchell

I came to kids' cycling journalism via a slightly unusual route: ten years teaching primary school PE, three children of my own, and a growing frustration with the gap between what parents were being sold and what actually worked.

As a PE lead, I spent a lot of time thinking about how children develop movement confidence — what builds it, what kills it, and how the wrong equipment at the wrong stage can set a child back in ways that take months to undo. A bike that's too heavy makes a timid child more timid. A saddle set too high makes a nervous child terrified. These aren't abstract concerns: I watched it happen in bike-to-school weeks, in cycling proficiency sessions, in playground observations.

When my eldest started asking for her first "proper bike" — she'd outgrown her balance bike and wanted pedals — I applied the same analytical lens I used in the classroom. I measured inseam lengths, researched frame geometry, compared component weights. I drove my husband mildly insane. We ended up with a spreadsheet before we made a decision. It was the right decision.

I joined KiddingZone because Eric was building something that matched what I believed: that parents deserve clear, evidence-based guidance, not marketing dressed up as a review. My focus is on the developmental angle — how a bike fits a child's stage, not just their size, and what to look for if you have a child who's hesitant, or one who's reckless, or one who's somewhere in between.

These days I test bikes with my three (ages 5, 9, and 12), a rotating cast of their friends, and a level of forensic attention to saddle height adjustment that probably says more about me than I'd like. I love this work because the stakes are real: get it right, and you might just create a cyclist for life.