My toddlers have been much more fussy this year when it comes to stroller rides. Oh, who am I kidding? My daughter has never been content in a stroller unless we are in a crowd! Either way, four hours walks are a part of our life since we live in the city and chose to be a single vehicle family. I have two jogging strollers and have discussed my Baby Jogger City Elite single versus Baby Jogger City Elite Double before. I love them. They save my sanity. But I have been wanting to try some sort of sit & stand ride along style stroller for some time now. Since we have no room in our budget or our apartment for another stroller, I thought a ride along board attachment would have to do. A few months back I purchased the Baby Jogger Glider board at PishPoshBaby * when I was reviewing their shopping site, and I’ve been chomping at the bit to hook it up. Unfortunately, Mother Nature decided Winter would last until mid-May and kept dumping snow on us, so I was not able to test it out until recently.
I admit I balked at the $60-$70 price tag on the Baby Jogger glider Board until I saw the prices of other ride along boards and saw the Baby Jogger brand was actually a deal. It can safely carry up to 45 pounds and the arms clip on with adjustable clips, so it should, in theory, work on some other brands of stroller as well.
The board is a cinch to put together. Just pop the tires into the sockets until they click and you’re ready to hook it up. This is a feature the Baby Jogger line I love. The pop and click tires make everything SO EASY!
In the image above, you will see a rectangular bar spanning the bottom of the board. That bar is the bracket attached to the connector arms for attaching the board to your stroller. The arms are inflexible metal for a sturdy ride. The tires are like extra huge roller blade tires and they swivel for a smooth ride. The attachment clips for the arms of the board are a simple band you insert into the sleeve and continue feeding the strap until it reaches the desired snugness. If you wish to loosen or remove the arm clips, you press a button and pull the strap outward much like the clips on in-line skates.
There are some pros and cons to the Baby Jogger rider board. The nice tires give it sturdiness and a smooth ride, but they also make the board a little tall. This means my shorter than average three year old is too tall to stand on it without having to angle his head due to the stroller handle bar above. Also, since the board is rectangular instead a triangle like some brands, it makes it difficult for me to walk with a comfortable stride. I am long legged and spent months trying to find an umbrella stroller I could push without kicking (to no avail) so this issue is rather a big sticking point for me. On the other hand, the rectangular shape makes it easy to place a crate for groceries on the board if you happen to run errands on foot like I do.
My son LOVES it. He doesn’t care that he doesn’t have any head room. On a few occasions he has sat on the board with his legs slung over the stroller axle. While I do not recommend that since they could stick fingers in the tire spokes, he certainly likes the option. Now, my 16 month old does not have the strength or balance to ride on the board with out falling off. I imagine two years old is the magic age that makes this type of product perfect. If you look at the image above, there are stretchy straps with clips dangling down. I have no idea what these are for since I lost my instruction booklet, but I have been using them for flipping the board upward and strapping it to my double jogger. That way we have it along just in case, but it is not in the way while not in use.
I imagine this would be an awesome attachment to use for hauling a cooler or picnic basket along to the park.
At the end of the day, I am still fantasizing about some sort of sit&stand stroller for in stores though. A mama can dream.
*I linked to PishPoshBaby because that is where I purchased this item. I will disclose that they did give me partial store credit for a different post, and I used that credit for this purchase. I also purchased my Baby Jogger City Elite double stroller from them since they have great prices.