We bought the girls bikes for Christmas. I looked on Gumtree for weeks, but the kids’ bikes that were advertised were always in poor condition or not quite the right size. The only alternatives were expensive bikes from a bike shop or cheap ones from Toys R Us or Kmart, branded with the latest movie merchandise. I was attracted to the price of the cheap ones and Rhea and Lara were attracted to their merchandising, so we bought a blue and purple Frozen bike with blue and purple ribbons from its handlebars for Lara and a pink and black one for Rhea. The bikes also met the girls’ approval in that both have a front basket and both came with training wheels. On Christmas day at Maggie’s house, Oli and I made a treasure hunt for them ending with the bikes, and Rhea and I rode the 2km home, with Rhea only conking out a couple of times along the way.
We left the new wheels at home when we went away on holidays and when we got back in mid-January we did some short rides on the cycle paths nearby. We read somewhere that training wheels should be removed after a couple of weeks. Also, I came across a tiny boy riding his bike without training wheels on our local cycle path and called out to his mother as we passed ‘how old is he?’ ‘Three today,’ she replied. That was the clincher. The girls are more than five-and-a-half. It was time.
We had three after-school sessions without training wheels, where we ran along steadying the girls down the street to balance them, letting go for a few seconds every now and then. There were only one or two falls, and little by little they could ride longer stretches without our help. Last weekend we met the girls’ godparents at their local oval encircled by a kilometre-long cycle track in deep shade under huge evergreens. This was where they learnt how to ride comfortably by themselves, and even to push themselves off. We sat on the park bench and enjoyed Di’s home-made muffins and a cup of tea and didn’t have to run around with them at all.
It was all good until they decided to set off in opposite directions instead of one after the other, then couldn’t avoid a family group walking around the track and rode in to each other head on. There was blood and tears. After that Rhea’s chain fell off a couple of times – it was a bit too loose: on closer inspection, a cheap bike is a cheap bike. All in all though, their first sole ride was a great success and Di and Andy enjoyed being part of the experience.
I can’t wait to do longer rides with the girls and build up their stamina. Riding is such a nice way to see the world, it’s healthy for people and the environment and makes you feel good too. Also I had some great times doing cycle touring with Maggie and her uni friends when we were younger. We rode through some beautiful scenery around northern NSW.
Notwithstanding last weekend’s success, we’re putting some energy in to swimming for now, making the most of our local outdoor pool to have two after-school lessons per week: I take them to one and do laps while they have a lesson, and Heidi takes them to the other. They are starting to learn freestyle and Rhea can do three summersaults in the water in a row – not sure if she learnt that in the lesson itself, but in any case it’s something I don’t think I could ever do. It’s been great weather for it, and we are four weeks in to only six weeks of lessons, so the girls are still enthusiastic every time. After that the pool closes, so we’ll have to re-think what after school activities we’ll pursue after then.
Not too many, but there are so many to choose from. Maybe we’ll try two or three and see.
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