Back to Home Pagecycling utah August 2000
By Laura Howat
At the beginning of April, I decided that
my son, Nathan, (5 1/2 years) was probably ready to start riding his two
wheeler without training wheels. I took the training wheels off and we drove to
a school playground with plenty of open asphalt and no obstacles.
I knew there might be some spills so he
had on gloves, long pants, helmet, etc. I held the back of his seat as he
pedaled. As he pedaled harder, I ran faster, still holding the back of the bike
seat.
When it seemed like he
was balancing on his own, I let go of the seat. He was about 50 yards away
before he realized I was no longer helping him stay upright.
He
coasted to a stop and screeched his excitement. He had ridden a two wheeler without training wheels!
We
repeated the process a few more times and then there was a big spill. Nathan
tried to steer the bike as if he had training wheels on, by wrenching the
steering wheel into too tight of a turn. There were tears and a sore knee. And
he would not get back on the bike. He was done.
A day went by, I asked Nathan if he wanted to try bike riding
again.
"NO!" he
answered.
A week went by.
"NO!" he repeated.
Then a month went by
with the bike just laid on its side in the garage, untouched.
During May, Nathan's friend Tommy, two
houses up and only one month older, got the hang of riding his two wheeler.
Tommy would ride up and down the sidewalk and Nathan would run along behind
watching intently.
Then it
happened. Nathan announced he was ready to start riding his bike. He put his
helmet on, got pm his bike, pushed himself off and rode away.
The next day, he wanted me to watch how
far he could tilt his bike going around a corner without crashing.
A few days later he wanted me to watch how
he could go over a big bump and try to pull his front wheel off the
ground.
Now, Nathan is riding
up and down the sidewalk. Little brother Riley is running along behind watching
intently.
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