Kai’s New Bicycle

We had gotten new bicycles for my wife and son last weekend. My wife and I were very eager to get out and try them out. Kai? Not so much.

It was the day after our successful first canoe outing. We were looking forward to getting out on another beautiful fall day.

My wife suggested that we should start out at the parking lot of our neighborhood school. They have a nice wide-open area on weekends, and she thought it would be a good place for Kai to try out his new bike.

I scoffed off the suggestion. After all, it is just a new bicycle. It is not like he is a complete beginner. Why does he need a special place to practice?

And so I loaded all of our bikes on our carrier and we drove to our favorite forest preserve.

Kai nervously got on his new bike. It was a lot bigger than his old bike. But it was not so tall that he couldn’t still touch the ground as I had set his seat height as low as it could go.

He started peddling, wobbled around for a second or two, and then jumped off.

“THIS BIKE IS NOT STABLE!”

I told him that he needs to peddle, that the bike would not wobble so much if he moved faster.

He did not want to get back on, but I ordered him to do so.

Again, he barely moved, wobbled, and stopped.

“I WANT A DIFFERENT BIKE!”

I told him that the bike was not the problem. He was just scared but if he rode like he always did it would be fine.

“THE PEDALS ARE TOO TALL!”

What? That doesn’t even make sense.

My wife gave me the ‘I told you so’ look. Actually, it was more than a look.

But she also tried to instruct Kai to steer, and was as successful as I was.

“I NEVER WANT TO GO BIKE RIDING AGAIN!”

After a few more attempts, I decided that this was not going to be productive.

I grimly loaded the bikes back onto our carrier and we drove away.

But I did not drive home. We drove over to our neighborhood school.

There was a lot of room in the empty parking lot. There were virtually no cars or bikes or other people to worry about.

Kai nervously got on the bike. But this time my wife and I held his seat so he wouldn’t wobble and ran behind him giving him a bit of a push until he got going on his own.

And once he got going, he was fine.

He peddled around the parking lot, counting laps, and was a happy kid.

Now why didn’t somebody suggest starting out here before? Oh, wait.

My wife and I got on our bikes and rode along with Kai in the parking lot. It wasn’t exactly the fall bike outing I had envisioned.

But, it turned out to be a good one, such as it was.

And next time we’ll be able to ride on a nice trail.

I hope.