As many of you know Monkey takes his time with everything and learning to pedal was a prime example. Over last summer he reverted back to his scooter and as we’ve had to upgrade that, I was worried that Monkey would soon outgrow his bike without having said goodbye to the stabilisers. Over the Easter holidays I started going out with Monkey at every opportunity, getting him on his bike and pedaling to confidence. The lighter evenings and better weather really helped and we’re trying to keep that up during the week now he’s back at school.
We are very lucky to have lots of cycle paths where we live, so he can get around safely and on a decent flat surface quite easily.
His pedaling to confidence has gone from a quick loop around the block, to going out for a 45 minute to an hour cycle ride at a time. He’s really enjoying himself, and I’m having to jog along to keep up – not a pretty sight.
His confidence is growing, his pedaling faster, picking his routes and going further afield, and even off roading from time to time.
Getting Monkey on his bike in the week, after we’ve had our meal, is such a lovely way to spend time together. I watch him make decisions, building up speed, stopping to admire some daisies (he does love daisies, and dandelions, and buttercups!), stopping for a drink, or a snack.
Chatting away, before he gets back on the saddle again and sprints away.
My plan is keep Monkey pedaling to confidence over the next month or two and then look at taking his stabilisers off. If we can get him riding without them then I’m pretty sure we’ll need to look at getting him a bigger bike. He’ll be gutted to leave his Police bike behind though as he’s grown to love it so much.
Then I will need to get back on the saddle after more years than I care to remember. Watch out, this could be a bumpy ride! But hopefully plenty of fun adventures await us both.
He’s doing well isn’t he. By the looks of him he’ll need a bigger bike very soon. That was our main struggle with A was changing bikes, she would get comfortable with her bike but it would get small very quickly and then we would have to start again with the confidence as she never wanted to get a bigger bike. Fingers crossed for Monkey.
Well done to him! He is getting better and his confidence up!
So glad that Monkey is growing in confidence with his bike and managing such long bike rides too! Good luck with getting the stabilisers off 🙂
Yay, go Monkey. Sounds like he does better than N on rough ground. N still gives up on hills, but he’s still not got that much strength in his legs. But then we don’t get out other than occasional weekends. We need to find family cycle routes and I need a bike rack for my bike/car.
Great to see him getting out so much. Now that the weather is better we need to get our guys out more too! Good luck with getting the stabilizers off x
Brilliant, glad he’s growing in confidence. You’ll have the stabilisers off in no time. The police bike is cool too! #countrykids
fingers crossed
This is what we have been doing! I am so scared that my son will forget how to bike because contrary to that saying some people really do forget (me) how to when they stopped biking. I always try to squeeze some biking and scootering time last term time and though my son’s knees are full of bruise from it (mostly from the scooter) I am so happy that we are using them to go to school when the term started! #countrykids
You are not alone, I need to get back on a bike after nearly 40 years off one! We live so close to school that it’s not worth cycling or scooting, so we have to do our rides when school is out.