Bikes

Over the past couple of weeks I have been trying to step up my game regarding bike riding.  I have been traveling further afield and generally getting more used to traveling by bike.  And I love it!  I've never been a huge fan of cycling in traffic, but here in Amsterdam there are bike lanes and bike paths everywhere;  two infrastructures layered one over the other (one for cars, the other for bikes).  Bike lanes even have their own traffic lights.  It's time for us to take better advantage of this means of transport.  I still plan to buy the awesome Nihola, but not until the new year.

Peter took M to Vondelpark on my bike the morning I prepared Thanksgiving dinner.  It was an incredibly windy day, and given my experience taking M on the back of the bike, I was concerned about how this would work, but Peter did fine right from the get-go.  You can see in the video that he wobbled slightly as he first set off, but was immediately able to handle the bike with the extra 40 pounds.  When they returned M told me that Peter rode the bike much faster than I do, and that he is a better bike rider than me.  He also asked Peter to ride around the whole of Vondelpark, whereas he has expressed some fear about being on the back of the bike with me.  What we learned from the experience is that we should move the bike seat to Peter's bike so we can have some family outings together.

Last year I got a balance bike for M free from one of my neighbors.  I took him out on it once, and he wasn't really into it.  He tired quickly and I got annoyed.  We never took it out again.  However, we have it in Amsterdam, and I had been thinking that we need to take advantage of it before he outgrows it.  The beauty of the balance bike is that it gives kids an opportunity to master balance at their own pace.  The idea is that kids first figure out balance, then are able to transition very smoothly to a two wheeler with pedals.  M is growing really quickly and I saw the window for using the balance bike closing so I knew I had to act.

I had read that the key to successful balance biking is a properly adjusted seat and well inflated tires, so I was pretty encouraged when he wanted to come on the "recon mission" to find a bike store with an air pump.  Then last Thursday we brought the bike to pump up the tires.  West Coast L and her mom came with us.  M was pretty disheartened when L zoomed off.  He even wanted to use her bike because he thought he was faster on it. I explained to him that it wasn't that L's bike was faster, just that he was 5 minutes more experienced when he tried her bike.  And the learning curve with the balance bike truly is that fast!

I told him that if he stuck with it he'd be riding a real two wheeler in no time, and that once he was ready, in couple of months, we'd buy him one.  The next day, I scooted along on my own bike.  M showed an interested in my bell, so as he reached each corner on the block he could ring the bell.  We also struck a deal that if he practiced his bike every day for a week, he could pick out whatever bike bell he wanted.  My idea is that if he practices every day for a week, it will start to be fun for him, then he'll practice all the time.

So far my plan has worked. We are three days in and he's doing great.   The first video shows M scooting along, and the video below shows him easily mounting the bike and actually steering the handle bars (although I admit I turned off the camera just before he wobbled and fell).

But you can see the progress only a few days make.  The videos above are after about 3 days of practice and below it's one week of practice (on the way to get the bell!).  He's still a little wobbly at first but can balance the bike standing (and with no hands) and has found a nice stride.  From time to time he even glides on it (although usually followed by a huge crash). But, he always gets back on and, thanks to my bribe, he has decided the bike is fun.