Wheels on dirt

Speedster

Yesterday was the first time that we all took a ride together, each on our own bikes. Little sister has no problem keeping up for most of the distance of our neighborhood loop. When she gets tired, she hops on the Big Dummy, along with her Strider. She's already asked about a bike with pedals, which I have waiting in the wings, but I want her to further improve her handling skills before I make the introduction.

We have a balancer!

Little sister made a breakthrough in balance riding on her Strider bike tonight. In the last few weeks, she's gone from walking her bike along, to running her bike along, and recently started lifting both legs simultaneously for just a half second as little self-tests of her courage. But during our evening ride today, she discovered she could lift both legs and coast. It seems she's over the crux and just about has this balance bike thing figured out. I predict more speed and coasting in the immediate future.

Spring Break

Sisters, big and little.

It's the first week of spring. Although we've gotten a bit of snow in the past few days, and it isn't quite short-sleeve weather outside, we are enjoying the subtle greening of the landscape. Yesterday evening, the girls were out on wheels during a family walk. On her own accord, Little Sister eagerly picked up her Strider bike and headed down the street, even foregoing offers of a wagon ride. She rode a couple of blocks in total, there and back. She's been picking up speed and confidence, and will likely discover balanced coasting by summer.

On the back yard circuit.

A little earlier in the day, Big Sister came to work with Daddy. Spring Break is an opportunity for her to visit my office on campus in a 129-year old house with old comfy chairs and reading nooks perfect for a bookworm. For lunch, we went out for slices of pizza that were about as long as her arm.

Big girl, big pizza.

A scientific surface traction test of her cool Lego Technic dune buggy.

Whatever they call it, around here it's Bike Friday

As is our tradition, we refrained from spending any money today, and instead took the opportunity to enjoy a beautiful late November day. We are very fortunate to get quite a few terrific days with 60 degree F weather sprinkled throughout the winter. When fine weather coincides with a day off, there is no better way to soak up some precious sunlight.

We had a nice Thanksgiving meal yesterday and the girls really enjoyed the food. Perhaps the pinnacle of their enjoyment was getting to lick the beaters from the whipped cream.

Unbridled joy.

A sampling of two types of pumpkin pie, and a slice of pumpkin cheesecake.

Today marks the second anniversary of Scout coming home to live with us. She has been a good dog and continues to learn how to live in the world of people. Here's to many more rides.

Scout is my shadow, much more often than not.

First solo ride on a two wheeler

First proud moments on her very first new bike.

Our little girl is growing up. This afternoon our nearly 20 month-old was hanging out with me in the bike barn. She took an interest in big sister's old Nutcase helmet, so I sized it up to her and put it on. Before I knew it, together we were assembling a brand new Strider bike that I had bought a while back to have on hand for her when she seemed ready to try a balance bike. That day was today.

I intentionally didn't want to push her into trying the bike. As it turns out, that wasn't my choice to make. When she realized the little red bike was her size and that it was meant for her, there was no holding her back. All I had to do was to help her get a leg over the seat, and she immediately started toddling the Strider down to the street.

I anticipated her interest would last only a minute or two. However, her initial excitement grew into enjoyment, even after a couple of slow-motion falls and a helmet change to her more familiar, lighter standard model. I ended up following her up and down the street for about half an hour.

Smiles and happy chatter.

The Strider is a very light weight, well-designed little bike.

It's amazing how instinctively a balance bike seems to mesh with even very young kids. She's not quite 20 months old, but instantly grasped how the bike worked, with her skills and confidence improving every minute spent on the bike. I know she is a while away from feet-up balancing and cruising. Yet, I'm certain she'll be a balance bike master by next summer, and will likely be on a pedal bike by this time next year. The only limitation will be whether I can find a pedal bike small enough for her to straddle.

Earlier in the day, we rode to the start of a local 5k. The Big Dummy and Julie's Breezer were the natural choices for transport, but we needed to bring our BOB stroller along with us, so I attached the BOB to the rear of the Dummy and pulled it as a trailer. The arrangement worked well, and drew a fair amount of attention as a pedal-powered road train.

Incidentally, today marks my 307th consecutive day of riding a bike. Most days, my rides have not been anything out of the ordinary. The vast majority of my biking days have included riding for utilitarian transportation purposes, a few have featured purely recreational rides, and nearly all have had some element of dog exercising via bike. I had stayed healthy nearly the entire duration of my streak thus far, which I credited with consistent riding. However, a bit more than a week ago I caught a cold that has yet to completely subside, so I suppose the bike/health correlation hypothesis is imperfect. Still, I don't plan to miss being on a bike every day, at least until I hit number 365.