bikeickle

Chloé rode her bike without stabilisers for the first time this weekend. I'd taken her a couple of times before. First time, you realise how badly designed a child's bike can be. While her saddle was the right height for her feet reaching the pedals (a bit low if anything), it was way too high for her to feel confident about getting her feet on the ground.

So the second time, I lowered the saddle and she was able to get her balance before starting off and get her feet down when she stopped. So she was able to do it with me holding on to her, but her tendency to swerve 180 degrees as soon as she started was holding her back.

So Sunday morning we went down, and I held on to her going down the pavement. As soon as we got onto the grass in the park, I let go of her, and she just rode off, like she'd been able to do it all along.

It was brilliant, but I wish I'd had the video camera when she rode straight into the rugby posts. The secret is, once she fell off a couple of times and realised it was no big deal, she wasn't worried about it any more.