# First Ride Report...



## Chain (Dec 28, 2006)

It was an epic ride of about 3 to 5 miles. I'm not really sure how far she went, but it started out a little tenative. She had only taken the training wheels off 24 hours earlier. The day before she made a few good attempts and was able to negotiate about 300 feet before panic set in and she bailed. A day later and after a few shaky starts she relaxed and was off to the races. I had to go get my bike to catch up. After about 20 minutes she was turning around in the street and going up and back on the street. After an hour we had set up the cones and she was doing a slalom course around them. 
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I have a new riding partner!


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## Pablo (Jul 7, 2004)

You put a smile on my face. 

Best post ever.


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## YuriB (Mar 24, 2005)

awesome. 
congrats on your new riding partner.
great idea with the cones.


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## Chain (Dec 28, 2006)

YuriB said:


> awesome.
> congrats on your new riding partner.
> great idea with the cones.


Thanks. I'm looking forward to tonights ride.

The cones worked really well. She was starting to figure out how to turn but was worried about it. Once I set the cones up she was more concerned about not missing a cone than the actual act of turning. I'm sure the cones will get a good workout again tonight.  

ps. The cones are pretty flat and soft. She was able to ride right over them without feeling a bump. She definitely gained a lot of confidence in being able to make all the turns.


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## YuriB (Mar 24, 2005)

How old? I tried to get my son (4) off training wheels and he was having none of it. I didn't want to make it not fun so I've put them back on until he asks me to take them off.


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## Chain (Dec 28, 2006)

YuriB said:


> How old? I tried to get my son (4) off training wheels and he was having none of it. I didn't want to make it not fun so I've put them back on until he asks me to take them off.


 She is 4, but will be 5 at the end of the month. She has pretty good balance from taking gymastics over the last 2 years, and honestly could have ridden last summer, but didn't want to take them off either. We tried it once and she did well, but it freaked her out. No need to push her.

On Sunday we were up skiing with her and had her on a harness. After lunch we talked her into trying one run without the harness and she was off and skiing all over the place and having a blast. On Monday I told her the training wheels were just like the harness and that she should give it a try. We spent about an hour and a half on Monday and then last night she just took off. It was great.


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## Ridgetop (Mar 1, 2005)

Awesome post and great idea with using the cones. I never would have thought of that.


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## singlecross (Nov 1, 2006)

Really great post! My son is going to be 3 this Spring and I cant wait to introduce him to a 2 wheeler when he's ready. He's been riding his trike like a champ for the past year especially around the "racecourse" he has established on the first floor of our house. Kids can be the BEST. Congrats! 

BTW, nice pink singlespeed... get her a lock and a bag and it looks like she's all set to be a bike messenger!

singlecross


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## macalu (Jan 16, 2003)

*The longest ride*

begins with a single turn of the cranks.

Enjoy.


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## Chain (Dec 28, 2006)

singlecross said:


> Really great post! My son is going to be 3 this Spring and I cant wait to introduce him to a 2 wheeler when he's ready. He's been riding his trike like a champ for the past year especially around the "racecourse" he has established on the first floor of our house. Kids can be the BEST. Congrats!
> 
> BTW, nice pink singlespeed... get her a lock and a bag and it looks like she's all set to be a bike messenger!
> 
> singlecross


She got her first bike when she was 9 months old on her first Christmas. She couldn't pedal it, but my back still hurts from pushing her around for hours in the house. The pink bike is actually her third bike. She rode tricycles at daycare, but always bikes at home. When she was 2 and 3 years old Mom took her to daycare most summer days in the Burley. Last summer she rode the pink bike with training wheels the 1/4 mile to daycare. All of her classmates were jealous. After work I would go home and get my cruiser bike and ride up and get her. Often we took a longer route home.

She actually has a lock for her bike. I was going to get her a flashing light for the back for her birthday in a few weeks. Then when she starts commuting with Mom she'll be ready. I might have to work on a little Chrome or TimBuk2 bag. It would have to be pink of course to match the bike, the helmet and gloves (which are currently lost). She's also going to get a jersey for her birthday. Probably a Curious George. She will love it.


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## undies (Oct 13, 2005)

Chain said:


> I have a new riding partner!


That is a great shot. Congrats!


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## JP (Feb 8, 2005)

Wow! Thanks.

I have a 4 1/2 year old, and I'm about to give it a shot without training wheels. She's a little tentative. The little bugger likes looking at stuff on the computer with me, so I am going to show her this post tonight. I bet she could relate.


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## bigrider (Jun 27, 2002)

Great Report. I feel just like her when I get on my bike, a happy kid!!!


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## mynamesrob (Jul 13, 2006)

That's an absolutely fantastic report. It's hard to find a better set of pictures than a new rider.

-Rob


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## wooglin (Feb 22, 2002)

Very nice!


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## Chain (Dec 28, 2006)

JP said:


> Wow! Thanks.
> 
> I have a 4 1/2 year old, and I'm about to give it a shot without training wheels. She's a little tentative. The little bugger likes looking at stuff on the computer with me, so I am going to show her this post tonight. I bet she could relate.


I was tempted to give this a try if I couldn't get my daughter to give up the training wheels. http://www.pedalmagic.com/ I saw the report on the news a few years back. I have no idea if it works or not. 

We did our first daughter and dad ride last night. We went to the bike path a couple blocks away. We rode up to her daycare and then back the other way as far as we could go. We then rode down to the park to see if any of her friends were there. The park was empty so we kept on riding. I'm guessing we did about 4 miles. We only quit because it was starting to get dark and she was getting hungry - but wanted to keep on going.  

No riding tonight for us. She has gymnastics. Maye a ride after school on Friday !

Edit - I put our route onto Toporoute.com. We rode 6 miles last night. My favorite part was when we were going down a hill and she said "Daddy, this is cool"


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## links0311 (Aug 20, 2004)

That was a neat post, one of my favorites so far. 

-Links


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## 68design (Apr 6, 2006)

Last summer when my girlfriend's daughter was 8 we drove from Atlanta to Chattanooga, where I'd been living for a while, and took her out on the road. The downtown traffic's pretty light on the weekend so we went to show her how to ride the road. 

After a couple of miles around and learning not to just jet into the road when we're going to turn she was into it. Now we can pretty comfortably take out in Atlanta and ride to a lot of places. She rides the front, I'm off to her left and behind while her mom pulls up the rear. That way she's in a good pocket since cars have to go around us. 

Now if we could just build up her endurance this summer, we'll be good to go. 

One other thing, I got her a kids mountain bike with 7 speeds and a freewheel. She now knows how to use the gears to her advantage, the only thing she seems to do is see a hill start 100' away and she'll shift on down to 1st and start spinning towards it. But alas, we do have her riding and aware of traffic, so it's a great start.


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## Chain (Dec 28, 2006)

undies said:


> That is a great shot. Congrats!


Thanks. When her mom got home from work, I went in and got the camera. I took about 120 shots of her first day of real riding without training wheels. After about 10 minutes of photography I was told to get back on my bike. I have a few good sequences of her doing the slalom through the cones, and a half dozen or so with great smiles on her face.


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## KeeponTrekkin (Aug 29, 2002)

*Great Report*

Thanks for posting. The feeling was indesribable when my daughter rode withou training wheels for the first time. Your pictures are great. Congrats on the great feeling!!!!


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## RoadLoad (Jan 18, 2005)

This picture (the second one if I didn't copy it correctly) Has to be one of the great kid photos ever. I hope you have a frame for it. Thanks for sharing it.

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## Shizzam (Oct 14, 2006)

singlecross said:


> BTW, nice pink singlespeed... get her a lock and a bag and it looks like she's all set to be a bike messenger!



Hey, c'mon, she's only four, there's still a chance for her to become a respectable citizen.  

Great post. One of my earliest memories is of my dad taking me down to a school playground to swerve all over the place without my training wheels on. I don't have kids, but I can't wait to do the same with my two year old nephew in a couple years. It must be an incredible feeling to share moments like that with your daughter.


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## wayneanneli (Jul 8, 2004)

An absolutely wonderful thread! My sons are 3 and 4.5 and you're thread has reminded me of the joy of having children. Great stuff. 
Cheers, Wayne


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## Chain (Dec 28, 2006)

RoadLoad said:


> This picture (the second one if I didn't copy it correctly) Has to be one of the great kid photos ever. I hope you have a frame for it. Thanks for sharing it.
> 
> View attachment 81733


 I just might have to put that one in a frame. Great idea. I have a few other shots with her face in it which are even better, but that shot is probably worth a frame.


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## Chain (Dec 28, 2006)

wayneanneli said:


> An absolutely wonderful thread! My sons are 3 and 4.5 and you're thread has reminded me of the joy of having children. Great stuff.
> Cheers, Wayne


 I have a feeling that I will have many, many bike rides with her this summer and for a long time. She's definitely been bitten by the bike bug. She wants to ride every day after school and last weekend we had to run our errands on the bike. Just to make sure she got to ride more she always wanted to go the long way regardless of where we were going.

Have fun with your sons. I'm sure they will be riding soon if they aren't already. If you are like me you will end up giving up some road rides for the cruisers around the block. It's well worth it. The smiles they will bring you will far exceed any enjoyment of winning the sprint to any city limit sign. Enjoy them now, for someday they will enjoy the solitude of a long ride - just like their father.


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## fbagatelleblack (Mar 31, 2005)

Santa brought my five-year-old girl a Mystic this Christmas. It stll has the training wheels on it, but she's having fun anyway.

FBB


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## Chain (Dec 28, 2006)

fbagatelleblack said:


> Santa brought my five-year-old girl a Mystic this Christmas. It stll has the training wheels on it, but she's having fun anyway.FBB


Same here, but it was a year ago. We went down to the LBS before Christmas and let her ride some around in the store. It was at the top of her list. She rode it around all last summer and even commuted to daycare on it. 

Update: Last night we were out riding the cones again. She's really getting aggressive about leaning into the corners. She alternated between doing sweeping turns through the cones and then going tight against the cones for the next pass. Her handling skills are improving quickly. I had to get out the video cam to take pictures last night. She's also figured out she can stand up on the pedals. We've had two crashes so far. One she rode right into a huge rock - lesson learned - what you look at you hit. Second crash was last night. She turned it sharp to avoid the curb and slid out the rear tire. After a few minutes of crying and a sore bum from hitting the crossbar she was up and running the cones again.

For anyone with kids. I highly recommend the cones. Ours are like these. There might be better places to get them, but this was the first one's I found on a google search.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000AOENA/ref=pd_sl_aw_alx-jeb-9-1_sports_29632426_1 So far they have kept her entertained and have really helped her skills.


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