bianchi10

I tried teaching my daughter to ride without training wheels a couple months back but she couldn't get her balance and started to get really frustrated. After getting frustrated she started to complain and not try anymore. I brought her back 2 weeks later to try again with her bike and she still had trouble. Again, she got really frustrated, which lead me to get frustrated. I decided to take the training wheels off of my 3 year old sons bike which was smaller and thought maybe she would be able to control a smaller bike as well as put a foot down easier if she felt like she was going to fall over.

I had the bike and her helmet in the car before going to pick them up from daycare, so after I got them in the car, I told her what we were going to go do. She immediately looked deflated as if she knew she was going to fail. I gave her a little pep talk as I was getting her gear on and she seemed to feel a little more determined. She told me not to let go until she was ready. the first 2 minutes, I thought...."crap, here we go again!" because she was not getting her balance, wasn't pedaling, wasn't listening. Literally, 3 minutes later, she was off like the wind! She was turning to avoid objects, using her brakes to slow down and by the end of the hour she had taught herself to push off and pedal without me! I think like a lot of dad's who are cyclist and teach their kids to ride, I had this daydream of getting her first real road bike and going on rides together. I'm so proud and excited.




Though afterward, she stood by the bike and said, "is this bike Hot r Not daddy?" I said, "NOT!!! the bars need to be rotated down a little, saddle was hideous, pedals were the wrong color, reflectors needed to come off and the chain catcher was STUPID!"

(Ok, so that part didnt really happen)

Ghost Ryder

Good job B10!
Its good that you didn't let failure discourage her.
Failure sucks hard, but succeding it so much better!
Congrats to you, & your daughter!

Next up, your son.

Black wallnut 

You have wonderful things to look forward to. Congrats and well done.

vwchad

Congratulations, that's great! I wish I could get my boys interested in learning (3 and 7). They are rarely interested in riding and when they are, they hare perfectly happy on their trike (3 year old) and training wheel equipped bike. I've even offered to let them pick out a new bike at the LBS if they learn. No takers yet.

bianchi10

Yeah it took some convincing for my daughter. When she was 5 I took the training wheels off and threw them in the closet (but told her I threw them away). This gave her no choice to learn if she wanted to ride it. After a month of her wanting to ride with her little brother (3 years old) in the back yard and then forgetting she had no training wheels, I told her we were going to the park to try it. She was terrified the entire drive there and wasn't thrilled when I got her gear on. As I mentioned above, it took 4 months to get it and in the 4 months she only tried 3 times. Only now that she see's she can do it, she is having fun and really showing an interest.

vwchad

That may be my tactic with my 7 year old in the spring.

Bob Dopolina 

Congrats!

Bloody awesome feeling isn't it!?! Now is the N+1 part. We bought a new bike for my son after he learned to ride and I am building a SS bike I will ride with him (as a reward, you know?)

I've already started thinking about what rides we will do together first. I think we will hit the boardwalk by the beach this weekend to start and soon enough we'll be packing a lunch for some epic rides!

caloso

It's the best.

fureshi

Well done! I'm looking forward to the day that I can take rides with my son, who is only 10 months old at the moment.

carpediemracing 

When I read the last bit the first thing I thought of:
Flip it!

I'm really happy for you, congrats to your daughter!

We have a 19 month old and since many of our friends are either cyclists and/or know I bicycle we've already gotten asked "is he riding yet?" One rider upped the ante when he gave us a strider bike when our son was 8 days old. Right now we're happy he's running around and such.

unionmade

Congrats, great story, and now you've got lots of great memories to come. I have more fun on the 5-6 mile rides around town I take with my 10 year old than on a 50 mile ride with buddies. My 13 year old coveted a "drop bar bike," which Santa brought last year. Being a teenager has gotten in the way of many rides with her, but I'm hoping she'll come back around.

for those still trying with their kids, I highly recommend taking the pedals off to let the kid get his/her balance. Worked with my younger daughter after many failed attempts.

dtrain

+2 for removing the pedals or grabbing one of those strider/balance bikes. My son spent a lot of time on one the summer he turned 3. The next summer we briefly used training wheels while he learned the pedaling part, but he was free of them well before his 4th birthday.

b10 - congrats!

robbyville

Awesome congrats!

We've been working on our 6 year old, got him a new bike for his b-day no training wheels. He's gotten it a bit but still has not picked up real interest and we have to drive a 15 minutes to get to reasonable terrain for him. Hoping this Spring, he says he wants to ride with me and a new 6 year old friend has been going to cyclocross races with his dad and he competed in one of the kiddie races so...

look566 rider

Good for you! Another rider is born.

I wish Strider's were more known when my son was small. Would have made learning much easier.

seymour1910

Congrats Nick, good stuff. I taught my son when he was five. It took me two hours in an empy parking lot and he was riding. I just used his bike, removed the pedals and had him scoot it along for about 45 mins to work on balance, then I had him try scooting it then lifting his feet to coast.

I put the pedals back on and he was good to go, so for the second hour we worked on braking, fast stops, and genral bike handling. Now at six he rides often but he is leaning more toward BMX type riding. He always cracks on me about how silly I look in road cycling gear.

K1196A

Thanks for the inspiration. This has been a very frustrating process at my house and I think licking the problem is now this weekend's project!!! Training wheels are coming off!!! Wish me luck (and her)! LOL!!!

kcollier5

Um, yeah, wish you the best with that one. Get 'em while they're young, because it gets harder as they get older. My 17 year old has gone road biking with me several times but never really got into it, and now there seems to be no chance. However, I've got a 12 year old son that can probably fit his Mom's road bike really soon.

Bianchi, Congrats! You never mentioned how old your daughter is, or if you did, I missed it? That's a proud Papa moment, I remember when mine started riding... (And now my wife and I are expecting and unexpected 3rd child in January! So, I'll get to try again in a few years with a daughter)

unionmade

Not to highjack Bianchi's thread, but a gentle incline is also helpful when working on the pedals-off method. With my daughter, we spent a few minutes having her walk the bike, then a few more coasting down the incline with feet hovering above the ground. I then put the pedals back on and told her to walk the bike back up the incline. I turned around to put away the pedal wrench, and when I turned back she was riding it instead of walking!

And yes, my family forms a gauntlet of laughter that I must walk past every time I go out in biking clothes.

rumrunn6

glad I'm not the only one to employ elbow and knee pads. I found they were quite useful in the early days. wrist guards and gloves too! be sure to take some video

PatrickGSR94

aw man, I literally LOL'd at that last part, and then when I read it didn't really happen I was a little disappointed.

BoomMcNasty

Congrats to you and your daughter, brought back memories of me teaching my daughter to ride! Thanks for sharing.

Tycho Brahe 

How much does the bike weigh? It seems like it would be hard to get aero.

primov8

Nick, congrats and forever cherish that moment. I know exactly how you feel because our oldest (6) began to ride w/o training wheels earlier this year and loves it every time he gets to ride his bike. He keeps telling everyone when he gets taller, he's going to have daddy's black and green bike.

I'm hoping his younger sister and brother will be just as easy to teach; eventually they'll get tired of their trikes and power wheels sooner or later.

shoota 

Nice work! And you made me laugh too I can't wait to have kids and teach them things!

bianchi10

My daughter was 5 when we first tried but is 6 now.