Easy as riding a bike

So today was the day for Owen. One of those steps you take as a young boy that moves you closer to being a "big" boy. Today we took the training wheels off (literally) and learned to ride a bike. This morning in church Pastor Steve had talked about learning to ride a bike, and how it wasn't easy, there are falls and scrapes and cuts and very rarely do you learn to ride without "suffering" some of the pitfalls of riding a bike. (BTW he was comparing this to hearing the whole Passion story and not just the celebratory parts that come with Palm Sunday and Easter). I was hoping Owen wasn't paying much attention to the children's sermon as he knew we were going out later to ride.

So we got Owen all ready. Knee pads? Check. Elbow pads? Check. Helmet? Check. Backpack full of more medical supplies than a small clinic? Check. We went to a elementary school that had a large flat play area that was paved and we thought this would be a good place to start. We got the bike out of the car and Owen climbed aboard. He was a little wobbly at first, but we had lowered his seat so he was able to get his feet down quickly as he wobbled right or left. I was the one holding Owen and keeping him balancing and Renea was camera girl manning the video camera.

I tried holding onto the back only, and he didn't like that, so I moved one hand on the seat and one on the handle bars. A few wobbles and he was grabbing my arm. I told him not to grab my arm as he would pull us both over. So we did about 3-4 runs where we started out with me holding him up, letting go and him going about 10 feet before putting his feet on the ground. Then we did a run where I let go he peddled and went 20-30 feet (pretty fast, realizing the faster he went, the easier it was to stay up) and he forgot how to use his breaks and pulled a Fred Flintstone and put his feet on the ground to stop. It was that easy. He picked it up so fast and with hardly any major crashes. We spent time on making a turn and learning how to get started, but as far as the actual riding and moving forward on the bike with no training wheels he has it.

Obviously he isn't going out tomorrow and riding in the Tour de France, but it certainly didn't come with the traumatic episodes that I think Renea and I were planning for. The wheels are off!