Pulled the trail-a-bike thing out of the barn the other day. I was going to sell it or give it to someone who might use it, but as I was cleaning it up, Reanie asked to go for a ride. Reanie (nor Buddy) can actually ride a two wheeler on their own yet. Haven't expressed much of an interest. In fact, I dare say that they had shown disinterest so far, but I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity once she did.
We gathered some of Noah's cycling clothes from when he was 5 and 6 years old, and it worked well to come up with stuff that fit. And a yellow jersey on top of that! That is how you start riding.
I put the trail-a-bike to my bash bike, which is a basic singlespeed thing. Reanie put an apple in her pocket for a treat on the ride, and off we went for a ride on the Jeter Loop.
We were about a mile away when she'd finished her apple. At two miles, she asked if I'd ever ridden that far before. At 2.5 miles, she asked if we were in another town yet and if Noah had ever ridden that far. She asked if anyone had gone this fast on a bike before (we were going 14-15mph), and she said, "We're FLYING!" and "Wwwweeeeee!" Lots. My face hurt from smiling. In fact, she never, ever stopped talking for that entire 10 mile ride, and never wanted her to stop talking, which is more than I can say about some folks I've ridden with.
When I told her we were half way, she asked if we could go further because she didn't want to go home yet. About 2 miles from home, she listed the parts on her that were getting sore, but she "...was ok and wanted to keep going. Can we ride again after dinner?"
When we pulled into the driveway, Buddy had cycling clothes and a helmet on as well. So his shorts were on backwards. Big deal. And they were a pair of mine, so they were a little (and only a little) big. But Reanie let him put on the shorts she just wore, and they fit him nicely as well, so there we went. And if they ever really get into riding or racing, I've got leverage on them about how they shared cycling shorts.
Now Buddy is different than Reanie. he doesn't talk much at all during the ride. But good gravy he hammers. He was going all out ALL OUT as soon as we were on the road. He blew a 1/4 mile later, but a 1/4 mile after that, he was recovered and hammering again, even while I was braking and trying to maneuver the big rig around a corner. We were cruising at what I estimate was 18-19 mph when he was on, and 13-14 mph when he was off. When we bogged on the hills, he stood up and yanked on the bars and thrashed at the bike to get it going.
That, my friends, isn't something you coach.
He called out, "Hello" to the horses and cows. He told them he was riding. But mostly, he just hammered away back there, and I tried to keep up with him.
Buddy also found the bell on the handlebars, and you'd know when he was recovered, because he's start ringing that bell and the bike would pick up speed and wiggle all over the place.
We did the same Jeter Loop. When I asked him if he wanted to go further, he wasn't as excited, but he did say, "I want to later." And I'm completely cool with that.
So, I've got two new training partners, and I couldn't be more excited about going 14-15mph with them. And I know we're on to something, because they've been asking often if we're going to train that day. As soon as SRM makes a one piece crank for the trail-a-bike, we're on it.
