Learning to Ride a Bike {The Ordinary Moments}

When I was small I had a pink bike with a basket on the front and stabilisers. I can see that bike in my memory so clearly and the Christmas it arrived, even now, feels like the best Christmas ever. It was a dream gift – especially as we didn’t get many new things when I was growing up and I loved that bike completely.

It’s sad though that I can only remember riding that bike a handful of times, mainly in the small concrete part of our garden. The stabilisers were never taken off and after that bike I didn’t ride another until I was nearly 11, being taken by my parents to a local car park to teach me to ride before I started secondary school.

So for LP’s 4th Birthday we made the decision to get her a bike, one that she would probably remember forever. We needed a 12 inch one and I knew she would love it to be pink. I found the perfect one with tassels and a basket on the front and we hid it in our bedroom until her Birthday.

Dave and I made a pact that we would take her out on the bike as much as possible and not just letting her ride it in the garden but taking it to the park or even on UK holidays with us. Anywhere for her to practice cycling, gaining confidence and experience the childhood joy of riding a bike.

We took her out for the first time on her bike a week or so after her Birthday. She had her cycle helmet on and she rode, with the help of Daddy, to the local park whilst Little Man and I walked along with his scooter. LP didn’t know how to pedal, she was scared when the bike wobbled but we persevered.

Dave explained to LP how the pedals worked, he reassured her that the stabilisers were there to stop her from falling and he kept reminding her which foot she needed to pedal with next and slowly but surely she learnt how to ride her very first bike.

Steering was hardest for LP as she found it hard to concentrate on peddaling and steering at the same time but slowly and surely she got the hand of it. We coaxed her one way across the park, then the next and before we knew it she was doing it – all by herself. She was pedaling and steering at the same time and going in a pretty straight line.

At that moment I couldn’t have been more proud of LP. Her very first bike and learning to ride it almost immediately. I know that we’ll be going to the park regularly now, at weekends and after school, to spend an hour exploring and letting LP feel the wind in her face and that ache in her legs. Her face said it all – she was so proud of herself and so happy too.