SOL Day 10 of 31: Going for a ride

"Are you going by yourself?" Kaiden asked me
"Yes I am. I am not riding on our bike trail." I answered. "But when I am done if I have the energy we can go for a ride."
"Can we go on our bike trail?" He asked.
"yes we can."

I love that Kaiden wants to ride his bike so much. We got him a balance bike for Christmas when he was 1 1/2. It took him a little while to really get the hang of it. He would do more walking while sitting on the bike then coast for about a year. He did get to be pretty fast at tooling around the house though. Once we finally got him outside and going for walks while he rode he began to figure out how to lift his feet. He even had a pretty hard crash and scraped his hand one day, but that didn't stop him. He loved starting from the neighbors driveway and riding the sidewalk to our then turning up. He really began to get pretty good at coast with his feet. After 2 1/2 years we finally felt like he would be ready for a pedal, or "big boy" bike as he called it. So we got him one for Christmas.

I was very excited and figured we would have a couple months to get him used to the idea. He wanted to get outside that day, since it was about 50 degrees outside we did. I had to hold the seat while he pedaled for about an hour until my back hurt so bad I could barely stand up. After an hour rest he was ready to show his cousins that came how he could ride a bike. We tried it one more time and I just couldn't bend down anymore. After his cousin offered to show him how he said he could it. So I got him started at the top of our cul-de-sac and let go. He tore down the hill missing two trees, a small utility pole and a flagpole by inches, but under his own power. He could ride his bike! We have been riding on the trail ever since.

I am pleased to have passed my love for biking down to both our boys. Chris, our 14 yr old, loves to ride his bike too. In fact, he wants to do a triathlon this year. He has even begun taking the dog out for runs so he can get ready. Hopefully the three of us can get their mom to start riding her bike more often.