Get Your Motor Runnin'

Christmas of 2006, Grandma and Grandpa Studer got Ellie a little princess bike. At that time, she could reach the pedals, but didn't really get the concept of pedaling just yet. Her helmet was a couple sizes too big as well. And over the past two years she's had a funny relationship with that bike. For a week she'll love to get on it, then she won't want to ride for two months. But last week we were going for a walk to the Lewis Drug store near our house when I asked her if she'd like to ride her bike. She said, "Sure Daddy, I'll ride my bike."

So we headed off. What's normally about a 5 minute walk to the store turned into about a 30 minute walk to the store. But it was worth it. Almost a year ago now, she started to get the pedaling thing down. But our street isn't level, we're on a bit of a hill, so she's either going downhill too fast, or uphill and she can't pedal hard enough. That means we haven't had a whole lot of good practice. But this day would be different.

She really got the pedaling thing down, and even knows how to stop! She can press back on the pedal and, "I stopped Daddy, I can stop!" Steering though, that needs some work.

So enjoy the video of her pedaling herself. It's a momentous occasion in a dad's life when their child learns to ride a bike. Hopefully someday we'll even take the training wheels off. That'll take a little more practice though I suppose...and probably some elbow and knee pads to go along with the helmet.