And she DID IT! Riding her bike (with video)

There she goes!

Not long after this she rode her own bike (we started her on Zane's little bike because the pedals come off and on easier).  My mom stopped by (to pick me up for an event) and got to see her maiden ride on HER bike.  We are all very proud of how hard she worked to ride. 

Zora on her bike again, with video

Zora's Turn, Coasting

We first focused on helping Zane figure out how to bike without training wheels, and Zora was ready to give it a try now too.  It was amazing the difference from the time she started to the time she finished.   By the time she packed it up to go home, she could coast about 30 seconds at a time.  She did take a couple of spills and wants her own pads and helmet, instead of using big brother's.

pedals off, running to gain some speed

pulling up her feet to try to coast along

Starting to get it

Serious work.

Bigger

We bought a refurbished bike from a neighbor and went to test drive it.  Zane was upset with the situation at first.  He tried the new bike in our driveway, but the uneven surface mixed with more obstacles (like the street) and a bike that balanced very differently and was much heavier, was very discouraging for him.  We packed the bikes up to go back to the smooth, large, mostly empty parking lot for him to get used to the bike.  The entire way there he loudly voiced his complaints and wanted his old bike back.  He wanted us to take off the pedals again, but we couldn't get them off (screw started to strip), so he had to be content with Dad pushing him for a bit while he found his balance.

After a few minutes, once he was resigned to the fact we weren't going to let him back on his old bike again until he tried this one, he calmed down and got to work.  It took a bit of coasting and Dad pushing him for him to start pedaling again, and soon after, he was up and going.  And this time, with a bigger bike, he could go considerably faster.  He was THRILLED.  Mom and Dad....not so much.  Luckily the two spills he took were not when he was at full speed, or we would have spent the evening in the hospital.

Bigger Fears. : /

Dad helping as he tries to find his balance on the much heavier, much bigger, differently balanced bike.

Bigger Bike! : )

Checking out the braking/pedal system.  This has the adult style brakes rather than the pedal brakes.

Bigger Wait Time for my Big Girl

She got tired of riding and took a break to mess with the tools.

Bigger Distance

I sat in the middle of the parking lot and watched as they both rode all the way to the edges.

Bigger Speed!  :O

He was LOVING the speed.   Way too much.

Bigger Smiles! :D

Bigger Bruise.  :(

His cheek hit a fencepost. OUCH!  He was making stimmy noises and enjoying hearing them echo against the buildings and wasn't paying attention to where he was going.  The cheek looked pretty horrible the next day.

So, the day was a success.  Next:  Sidewalks.  

Do they make full body bubble wrap?

Oh, and if anybody knows of some super cheap/free adult bikes, we would be interested.  He now officially goes faster than we can run.  Well, especially me, but he could almost do that on the little bike, so that isn't saying much. lol.

And, as a side note, I am thinking it is such a bad idea to have "fall picture day" at school four days after the class bike tour of town.  I am hoping we don't end up with a "memorable" photo.

Progress on Wheels

We are all diligently working helping the kiddos learn to ride bikes.  When the typical way wasn't working (you know, push them along and let go, like our parents did), we consulted the internet.  After sorting through a plethora of suggestions, we settled on a combination that seems to be working.

1. Take off the pedals (so they don't hit their legs)
2. Drop a saltine cracker every 10 feet or so (then farther and farther apart, in varying patterns)
3. Have the biker scoot along aiming for the crackers.
4. Add knee pads before they fall and end up with 2 bloody knees (yeah, forgot that step the first try)

"Cracker Smashing" was a success.  It got him to stop thinking so hard about falling, and start thinking about aiming for the cracker while the back of his brain worked on learning to balance the bike.  A part of me is disturbed by wasting crackers, but the local birds seemed pretty pleased with the idea.

After balancing and scooting to smash the crackers, he was more interested in letting dad push him and gliding. 

gliding along

After a few days of doing this, he is able to glide for more than a few seconds, and now he can glide down a mildly sloping sidewalk, use his feet to slow himself and turn the bike around the corner as the sidewalk changes directions.  He even went over a curb and didn't lose his balance.  We have a lot of hope that next time, after a few minutes of gliding, we will have success when we put the pedals back on.  He is certainly working hard at it.  Once he gets pedaling down, we are picking up the "new" (used, refurbished) bike from our neighbor so he has a better bike, instead of one as small as Zora's.

Determination

Zora is also enjoying tooling around the parking lot and sidewalks in the bike she got from her Uncle Steve & Aunt Nora.  As soon as Zane is riding on his own, we will work with her on ditching the training wheels too.  Right now it looks like our biggest challenge for her is to get her to quit leaning to the right.  The right training wheel is noticeably dirtier and bending.  Right leaning is baaaaad.  She is starting to get some speed while riding, so hopefully it will help her make the transition.