I am a Mom to an autistic son and this past July we took the jump and bought 2 Trek Marlin6 bikes to begin riding together. We didn't go for the dual sport or road cycling because we are also in Scouting and so we may be doing some off road biking as well plus my son didn't seem as comfortable on the DS which was shown to us.
Since then we have logged a couple hundred miles on our bikes, mostly on the nearby bike trails. We aren't looking for amazing speed records or anything but we are hoping to improve our stamina and distance. We managed a very flat 25 mile Tour de Talbot in September and eventually need to work up to a 50 miler for his Boy Scout requirements.
The other fun twist to our story is Mom suffered a tri-malleour ankle fracture 3 years ago and still has 13 pieces of titanium in the ankle joint for stability. I had been recommended by the surgeon to change over to a low-impact exercise (used to run, not anymore!) and we decided on cycling together. The good news is the cycling is also helping my son with his behavior in school (every one I speak to says he gushes about cycling and they can see an improvement in his physical shape as well as his attitude).
So my question to the experts out here is why advice can you give us for the improvement of stamina and distance? Do you recommend a specific distance during the week (we can usually manage 5-8 miles during school time) if weather permits and longer distances on the weekend.
Kudos to you for your efforts with a challenging situation with your son. One of my daughters has a son who is mildly autistic and I understand the challenges.
As to how to improve stamina and distance (basically the same thing), you basically want to gradually increase the duration of your rides. But, I encourage you to make up some games to keep it fun for your son. For example, you could give him a reward of some sort if you reach a certain destination a little further out than you have reached before. Later, you can add a time objective (time and distance). Of course, don't be surprised if you find yourself unable to keep up with him.
You could check out Strava too -- if you can spring for Garmin GPS bike computers (the basic models will do speed, distance, and record the route you took) then you can upload your files (free to join) and see how you did each week, aim to ride for longer, aim to do familiar routes/loops faster, etc. Strava also sets up challenges to complete which can be fun to do. It's as much or as little as you want to make of it, but the best part is that it's an online training log so you can keep track of your progress.
