Devon's Blog: Learning To Ride

I live very far away from my home town - according to my dad, I live in the furthest place possible within the continental US. But I do love my family, and fortunately I am lucky to have cousins living only 15 minutes away from me. And my cousins have very bright, active, and energetic kids that are 7 and 10. However, these kids had one very big flaw: THEY DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO RIDE A BIKE!!!!!!!

Their mother was a bit embarrassed by this fact (who wouldn't be) but there wasn't much she could do as they live on a very busy street which makes learning to ride a difficult endeavor. Luckily, I live in a not-so-busy neighborhood and love riding bikes -- so my cousins came over to learn! We started out ignoring the pedals... just learning balance on the bike while coasting down a slight incline.

Jonah took this up very fast and was whizzing down the inclines scarily fast. Soon I told him to practice finding the pedals with his feet... and next his mom comes out and says "all you need to do now is pedal" and there you have it... Jonah was riding!

(Jonah flying along without pedaling)

(Jonah Riding!)

Kahlo had a much greater sense of self preservation and started out slow and steady with the coasting drill. She gradually built up her balance and speed and persevered with a little brother zipping across her path. After practice, practice, practice, she became quite good at coasting and we decided to put the pedals on and give it a go. Before long, she was pedaling too!!