Go Gauge, go!

Monday, May 15, 2006

The Gauge Bee-BopRecently, Gauge reluctantly made the leap from toddler style, training wheel, bike riding to full fledged free wheelin. Not only am I very proud of him for his no training wheel accomplishment, he is extremely proud of himself. Gauge said, "I think I am going to trying lots of new things now." Gauge is not the fast action, extreme sport daredevil that Skyler is. Gauge is more reserved and slower to try new things.

On the day of his accomplishment I said to him, "I think today we are going to take your training wheels off." He replied, "I am not going to do it, and you can't make me." Little did he know in just a few hours he would be cruising without training wheels. After much coaxing and negotiating, I finally convinced him that we would do it together. He finally gave in but was still pouting and very hesitant.

Getting startedAt first he was leaning on me entirely. It was like he still had the training wheels on and I was the training wheels. For at least an hour, I held him upright as he peddled down the street and back up. We worked on a little thing I told him (A little bit of lean and a little bit of turn). This was to get him used to being able to turn without being in the full upright position as with training wheels.He finally started to get the hang of it. I could finally let go of him for a few seconds at a time. That was about as far as I got with him on the first day.

On his ownOn the second day he was very excited to get out and try again. This time after only a few minutes I could let go for several seconds. One major obstacle for him was that he wanted to keep looking back at me. You can imagine the trouble this might cause a new rider. Not to worry, as we quickly over came that.

By the end of day two he was able to ride the entire length of the street with me running by his side to help him when it was time to turn around.

On day three he had even more enthusiasm as the thought of going out and riding his bike. He quickly remembered everything he had learned to that point and was ready for the next challenge. On this day we started the turning. It was little tought for him at first be we kept saying to each other, "A little bit of turn and a little bit of lean." Bingo! He got it. Day three was the day that he could ride down the street, turn around and come back.

Me and Gauge togetherWe still have to work on him being able to get started all on his own. He can do about half of the time by him self. He has no problem dropping the bike and jumoing off when he wants to stop, though

My littlest man is growing up... ...Go Gauge, go!

 

posted by: ndicenso @ 8:36 PM   3 Comments | Post a Comment