(Life)cycle

There have been a few momentary aberrations, but I pretty much haven’t ridden a bike since Isabelle was born. However Isabelle learning to ride the “big” bike she got at Christmas, with the pedals on rather than coasting sans pedals, has changed all that. Over the last month we have been going for a few family bike rides that have involved hiring a bike for me with a seat for Grace. Isabelle has ridden around 5ks without complaining repeatedly! And as of Saturday morning Grace has gotten the hang of it too (she wasn’t that impressed the first few times).

There was some talk of having my old bike sent over from Adelaide but yesterday while going bike shopping for Jesse (he cracked another frame and has gotten sick of waiting for the warrantee replacement to arrive from the US) we made a some what unplanned purchase of a new bike for Isabelle and then a new bike for me. And then today a swanky new seat for Grace. So this afternoon we went down to a local park and met up with Anne-ma to try them out (though not Jesse’s as his super sized frame needs to come from the warehouse tomorrow).

You can see Grace and I trying out the front mounted seat for the first time. And it works – Woohoo! And Isabelle leading the way and showing us how it’s done.

As excellent as Isabelle’s last bike was to learn on she had to pedal like crazy to go at even a moderate speed as it has pretty short cranks and small wheels. This new bike is a serious step up – huge cranks (check out the range of movement on her knees!), bigger wheels and (we haven’t told her this yet) GEARS! She can just barely touch the ground on tippy toes and already she is handling it like a pro.

Anne-ma had a go with Grace on the bike seat, no doubt remembering the days she used carry me around in a similar contraption! And last but not least a bit of a breather at the playground.