How to pull a mate up a hill?
 

Hello, I am planning a lunch with friends on a restaurant in the nature and we thought it would be nice to get there by bike. Problem is, the restaurant is on the other side of a hill and a friend of mine will not manage to get there with her own forces, as previous experiences had to teach. The climb is about 5 km (3.5 miles) long, 3 to 7% steepness, 300 meters (1000 feet) of height difference. I am confident to have the required strength to pull her up connecting our bikes with a wire, but I guess it would be extremely dangerous? Any suggestions about adequate equipment, maybe there is something made for children? Of course alternatives like renting a tandem or an electric bike have been considered, but are kept as a last resort because of the costs. Your suggestions are appreciated.

There is an attachment called a tag-a-long that attaches to your existing bike but it was meant for children. I couldn't find a maximum weight for the thing. Here is an explanation on how it works: https://www.cyclinguk.org/article/ca...-trailer-bikes If you were only going to use it one time, it would be more cost effective to rent a tandem bike. Much more suited for two adults.

Any chance you could buy/rent/borrow a tandem?

The cheapest MTB based tandems should be around $200 or so used.

Ride alongside, and, steering with your strong hand, place the other in the small of her back and push. She gets up the hill and you get some training.

Tag-alongs don't give the kids the freedom they want when it's not needed. Pushing with your hands while alongside is also dangerous if one would swerve both can end up in a heap. Wires or ropes can get tangled in the wheels. There is really no solid once size fits all solution. Perhaps the least dangerous is a tow strap, like what you would use for a car. It has enough give to not jerk badly when starting out and is thicker than a rope or wire. Here's a Youtube video of one being used. .

Again, if the front person slows down there is danger of it getting caught in the spokes, for the front person this means a sudden stop, for the rear it could pitch them over the bars. You will just have to try it out and work out the rear person applying the brakes to keep the strap tight so you can sop and unhook.

Thank you all for the suggestions!

For the record, the elastic rope looked pretty good and I managed to get a very cheap one right in time for the ride, although the same morning she pretended to be sick and we went without her.

OK, let me comment on the tow rope as pictured in the YouTube video.... Extremely dangerous! You should never hook two bikes together like that. If the rear rider happened to veer off, the rope will take them down. It can be done with a tow rope by wrapping the rope once around the handle bar of the rear rider, so the rider holds the wrapped rope with their hand and can let go when in trouble. This requires an experience rider to begin with. To attach a tow rope to a child's bike like in the video is stupid and cruel.