Today we taught Kayla to ride without training wheels.
We're probably a little late doing this. She wore the rubber off the training wheels already.
On the way to the cul-de-sac, we did some practicing. I held on to the bottom of the bike seat to keep her from falling over. I think she had problems because the road is slightly crowned. She kept listing to the left.
I got a little winded. I need to improve my cardio workout.
For her first few attempts, we just biked across the cul-de-sac. I helped, but I didn't have to interfere much.
Running half-crouched really exercises your glutes.
Eri didn't want me to have all the fun. She took over after a few runs.
This near miss turned out to be prophetic. Mommy stopped Kayla before she came close to the tilted mailbox.
Kayla was unphased by the near-miss. Erica starting holding on to her shirt instead of the bike; next thing we knew, she was biking on her own!
We did several back-and-forth runs. She needed a push to get started, but that was it. In fact, she kept saying, "Daddy, let go now!"
She eventually scraped past a big stone mailbox, but that didn't even phase her. She wasn't exactly the most stable rider in the world, but she was biking on her own!
Eventually she crashed. She was looking at her feet and didn't see the mailbox coming. When she looked up, she was so shocked she forgot how to stop.
The result was a small scrape on her thigh, a bruise on her bum, and a hug from Daddy. She didn't want to stop, but she did want a little closer supervision.
We tried to get her to bike in circles, but she just didn't have the control. Big sis Melissa tried to lead her around, but Kayla just needed more practice.
After a while we decided to head for home. Kayla biked all the way there, with a little help from her parents.
A highly successful day. Kayla is riding two wheels!