And, They’re Off…

What is more motivating to a little boy than seeing someone your own age doing something you can’t?  Seeing a GIRL doing it.   

Case-in-point… on Friday night, Gager watched a fellow 5-year-old riding a bike without training wheels.  He was both impressed and determined.  She was a she, and if she could do it, certainly he could. 

Actually, that was more mine and Matt’s train of thought than Gage’s, so whether he liked it or not, Saturday morning the training-wheels were coming off of Cooper’s bike (because it was the same size as the one the little girl was riding) and he was going to try it out.

Fortunately, he was up for the challenge.  And off they went…  

 

Why Matt thought it’d be best for him to go solo for his first time down a bark-dust hill, I’m not sure.  Maybe because he’d have momentum on his side and maybe because after that, the patio would seem easy…

  Either way, off he went…

… like like it was no big deal. (And yes, it appears Cooper really had to go potty)

After a few more runs down this mini-hill, rather than moving onto the patio, he went straight for a bigger hill in our backyard and after a drawn out build up on his part, he finally sped down down down, started losing control when he hit the grass and totally ate gravel when his tires skirted in the driveway. Down he went, adding yet another gash to his knee.  And oh, did he cry.  He swore he’d never ride again.  Swore he couldn’t stand. 

A minute later Matt was tickling him. Two minutes later he was breezing along the lower dirt road, which we call the rail-road grade, blood streaking down his shin. 

By this morning, Gage was riding in the quickest, tightest circles around the patio.  I spent most of my time watching him with my jaw on the floor because I couldn’t believe how quickly he’d picked up on this new skill.  Thankfully Cooper didn’t put up too much of a fight about Gage now using his bike; probably because he felt like an even bigger boy riding Gage’s bike (which he surprisingly did quite well on, considering it probably weighs about as much as he does). 

And as I was initially preparing this post, I looked out my window and caught the sight of Gage zipping through the trees.

I quickly grabbed my camera because I knew no one would believe me…

 

He was even riding over Matt’s jumps. 

However, this boy is really hard on himself.  He threw quite a fit at the end of his first mountain biking experience because the tree roots were getting in his way and he couldn’t catch air over the jumps.  

I assured him it was because this was only his second day of riding without training wheels.  All in due time… maybe at this rate, tomorrow!