Fantastic--thanks for sharing that. We had a similar experience with
our boy, who is now seven. He started out at four or so on a Skuut,
which is the $89 version of the nice wooden bikes I first saw in the
Riv Reader. The lack of steering lock is a real boon. He LOVED that
thing! When he was five he graduated to a Trek "Float" which has
easily removable cranks/pedals and 16" wheels. He rode it without the
pedals for part of a summer. We picked up a Trail-a-Bike for free, and
he wanted to go out every night on it for a week--learning the muscle
movements for pedaling apparently. That Sunday he said "I think I'd
like to try the pedals." We set him up on our street, a very slight
incline, and he took off and rode three miles with us on Bicycle
Sunday! (The City closes Lake Washington Boulevard to cars on summer
Sundays.) He spent the next days doing figure-8s in the alley, honing
his new skills--just as your nephew did. It is exhilarating to see
your kids make these leaps.
Rob in Seattle
On Jun 28, 2010, at 9:04 AM, James Warren wrote:
3) the absolute best-of-all: a ride with my brother and his 5.8-year-
old son on the Santa Clara bike path. It was flat and was probably
about 6 miles total. (We rode by the Great America roller coasters.)
Here is why it was the best ride: My nephew had learned to ride the
day before. He spent Friday morning learning to negotiate a
complicated loop near his house, and every once in a while had
spontaneous pure-joy outbursts like, "It's great to ride without
training wheels!" "This is the best!" and "I love donuts!"
After all that training, we raised the bar by going out on the
public use trail. He got really good at holding his course and
stayed to right and learned to pass people on the left (using his
bell) and he had the best time. There is nothing better than riding
with a kid on a steep learning curve and having a blast discovering
the exploring you can do in a bike.
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW
Owners Bunch" group.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected].
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
