Thursday, June 25, 2009

First Day on 2 Wheels

Before I left on my trip, riding a bike without training wheels finally clicked for my 4 year old. It didn't come without a few spills though:

But she eventually got it:
She stole that cute little basket off of Dug's old Surly, by the way.

Here's a quick video of her pushing the big ring. You cyclocrossers can probably learn a thing or two about dismounts at :14 and at :38.


I don't know what made me more proud. The fact that she's on two wheels, or the fact that after one of her crashes, I asked her if she was done for the day and she whimpered "no, when we crash, we get right back on our bike." She clearly has a dad who has crashed a lot.

Here's a tip for any of you with kids on training wheels. If they are having trouble with balance, try getting them one of those razor scooters. Aubrie just couldn't figure out the whole balance thing, and I think she was too afraid of falling on her bike to give it a try. We put her on a scooter for a few weeks, which was a lot less daunting. The next time we put her on a bike was the day we took this video.

6 comments:

Derek said...

The other thing that works great is a specialized hotwalk. They don't pedal, but push it around fred flinstone style. Soon they start picking up their feet and the balance gets dialed in. We've used it for my four year old and the neighbors four year old. Congrats on a new recruit too two wheeled bliss.

Ski Bike Junkie said...

Those dismounts are amazing. I wish I could do that. Forget 'cross--I just want to avoid hitting the ground so hard when I crash on the MTB.

Aaron said...

Derek - we've been thinking of getting one of those for my youngest. My wife has been looking at a "strider bike." Let me know if your kids are finished with yours because we'd love to get a used one.

South County Ciclista said...

Very nice. I hope to get my 5yr old boy riding this year. He just is showing signs of interest now.

dug said...

i've been trying to decide what to replace the basket with. streamers? a bell? a horn? i've done all those.

also, i'm too fat and slow right now for that kind of flair. you have to be fast to act like your slow without being slow.

me, i'm just plain old slow.

Aaron said...

Dug, at this point you just throw on a kickstand and call it good. Nothing embraces slowness quite like a kickstand. Rather than throwing your bike into the bushes at the top of a climb like usual, you just get off, put down the kickstand and chill. I'd love to see that. The fact that you keep up just rubs salt in the wounds of us non-kickstanders.