by Papa K on December 29, 2016
With Lauren fast approaching 4 years old, she’s started talking more and more about wanting to ride a “real” bike like her big sister – with pedals and everything. (Spoiler alert: she’s going to be very excited when she sees what Grandma and Papa Boston got her for her birthday 🙂
The family across the street had a Paw Patrol bike for their son and all week Lauren has been eyeing it enviously. With her older sister and cousins headed to the track for some running, we decided to walk over and ask if we could borrow for a spin. They had a balance bike too (just like her red one at home), but Lauren was emphatic that she wanted to give this whole “pedals, no training wheels” thing a shot. I was game too, so we loaded the bike in the car and headed over to the track.
Our little bike rider and a very proud daddy!
Well, I think its safe to say that Lauren’s time on the balance bike paid off because I barely needed to do anything before she was up and riding without any help from me. It took her a few minutes to get the pedaling motion down and she still felt the need to stop every once in awhile, but her balance was great and within about 10 minutes she was pedaling like demon all around the track. (BTW – track was an awesome place to do some bike riding practice!)
Here’s a video pretty early on in our practice session…
And then a short while after that she was already off on her own…
Very proud of our little girl! She’ll be burning up the streets in SF when we get home for sure…
(Click here for the first video.)
(Click here for the second video.)
As I’ve posted, the girls have been getting more and more into bike riding. Up until now, Christine and I have mostly run around behind them and our rides have been pretty limited. I finally thought Maile was ready to ride along side me, so on Sunday, I brought my bike out and we headed out for a family bike ride. Well, a split up family ride. Christine went running with Lauren beside her on her scooter bike (she said it was the perfect pace actually) and Maile and I rode up ahead. We went down to Golden Gate Park where they close off the streets and had a really nice ride for a couple miles.
Not the most demanding pre-PMC training, but fun all the same!
The crew - ready to rock!
Its only a matter of time before this one is lapping all of us!
After our ride we met up again and Lauren had the good idea to do some geocaching - so we went in hunt of a treasure!
... and after some good searching we found the cache!
Mark it down, 2016 is going to be the year that Maile really learns how to ride her bike. And its all because she decided she wants to learn herself – so now she is motivated. A couple weeks ago, without any provocation on our part, she asked if we could go bike riding before dinner. And then a few days later, we decided to go get some frozen yogurt after dinner and she asked if she could ride her bike. She even asked if we could try riding without training wheels over the weekend!
Tonight we went on another bike ride with the girls after dinner. Good times and good to get out a bit as a family even in the midst of our busy weekly routine.
Good times on our after dinner bike rides to get that fro yo!
Its a good lesson for Christine and I – sometimes, things just come when they are ready. There’s no timeline for these things. I have always felt a little bad that city living made it a little harder to provide easy opportunities for the girls to pick up things like bike riding – but I think the reality is that they’ll come around, but perhaps on a different schedule than I remember from my childhood. Nothing wrong with that – lord knows her Chinese is better than mine was at her age 😉
This one is from May 8, 2011. Particularly cracked me up because Lauren has become an ace at the green bike. It sat in our house for four years hardly used by Maile Girl, but Lauren loves it. I’ll try to get a video of her this weekend on it.
For now, back to what it was like “riding bikes” with Maile:
Have a great weekend – and happy mother’s day to all!
For the past few years, we’ve had a tradition of going on a bike ride for father’s day. This year, Lauren joined for the first time. We rented a trailer and the girls both sat in that while I pulled it and Christine pedaled along side, stopping occasionally to document the adventure.
I felt like Rocky in the Rocky IV training scene where he is pulling Paulie in the sled – except I was biking over the Golden Gate Bridge on a beautiful sunny day instead of in the Russian winter.
My girls are decidedly cuter than Paulie though…
Mommy and Maile
Mommy and Lauren
I taught Lauren why we need to wear a helmet to keep our heads safe...
... and then she shared with everyone else 🙂
For the ride itself we rode up over the Golden Gate Bridge and back – perfect weather and it was a first going over the bridge for both Lauren and Mommy!
Family picture halfway through the ride
This was actually Mommy's first time riding over the Golden Gate Bridge too!
So much has been going on I haven’t even posted about Father’s Day last week. It was a beautiful day in the city so first we headed down to Marina Green for a picnic lunch and to fly some kites. We had a lot of fun running around and the wind was perfect for the kites.
In the afternoon, Maile and I headed out to ride bikes and I realized that it was time for a bike upgrade – she still had one of the coaster bikes and had definitely outgrown it. We headed over to the store and found her a new big girl bike with training wheels. When we got home we took it for a test spin around our courtyard. It reminded me so much of this old video I have of Papa Mike and Grandma Jill showing me how to ride my red bike back in the day. It was the perfect way to spend a father’s day!
Father's Day 2013 with my girls - Maile (almost 4!) and Lauren (5.5 months)
Lauren Girl enjoying the wind on her face
Heading out to fly some kites...
I'll just stay here, but don't worry, I'm watching...
Picking daisies...
I love this picture that Christine took of Maile...
Maile Girl on her brand new, big girl bike!
A little hard to get the pedals moving...
... but once you get going - no problem!
I had a blast on Father's Day teaching Maile how to ride her bike 🙂
We’ve covered Daddy’s attempts to get Maile bike riding a few times already. Today it was Mommy’s turn. They headed out after school with Maile’s brand new helmet and pedal-free bike that Grandma Jill and Papa Mike sent for Hanukkah. Maile had a blast – my guess is that under Mommy’s tutelage, she’ll be zooming around in no time!
Do you want to go for a bike ride with me?
Come on, keep up!
Need to concentrate a bit to get this right...
Watch out San Francisco, here I come!
Mommy supporting the cause of Maile Girl wearing her helmet. What a good Mommy!
by Papa K on December 23, 2011
The answer is Maile, of course.
Grandma Jill and Papa Mike gave Maile a great new balance bike for Hanukkah. (Thank you!) I thought it’d be fun to teach Maile how to ride it before we left for Hawaii for the holidays. Of course, Maile insisted that the bike was “broken” since it didn’t have any pedals and instead wanted to ride her green tricycle. I should have known I was in for it with that start.
We headed outside with the green tricycle and Maile then insisted that the proper way to ride it was to sit on it and move along with her feet (vs. actually pedaling). So to make sure we are all on the same page, Maile was “riding” her tricycle the way one is supposed to ride a balance bike (while insisting that the balance bike was broken because it didn’t have any pedals – which were currently just hitting her in the ankles as she tried to move).
See for yourself:
On the positive side, this is an improvement from where we were a couple months ago. However, this is certainly a pattern Maile is developing at 2.5. She’s basically already decided that she’s learned enough from her parents and she’s ready to figure things out on her own. There is no right way, only the Maile way. I can only imagine where we go from here!
(Click here for the video.)
Mommy had a great idea that we should go for a family bike ride to celebrate father’s day. I told her that I wasn’t so sure we could all fit on my little green bike, but that I was willing to share. Turns out she had something entirely different in mind…
Wait, so I sit here and then Daddy drives up front? Are you sure you trust him on this thing?
Daddy and I reviewing our hand signals. One tap on the back means go faster. Screaming really loud means please stop.
It was a beautiful day, so after we worked out the kinks of driving the bike we went on a really fun ride along the bay all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge. I had never ridden so fast before on a bike! Lots of wheee was involved.
Just like a true San Franciscan I touched Hoppers Hands at the base of the Golden Gate...
(What’s Hoppers Hands? Read here)
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, DADDY!
(Dad note: It really was a great father’s day weekend – the bike ride was the icing on the cake. We really had a lot of fun and will be doing it again really soon…)
(Click here for the video.)
Maile hasn't quite grasped that going for a bike ride actually involves riding on a bike...
It was a beautiful weekend here in SF so Maile and I headed out for a bike ride on Saturday afternoon. I think its safe to say, we need to work with Maile on the concept of bike “riding” a bit… perhaps Papa Mike can send some pointers!
(Click here for the video.)
