Biking adventures
By Russell Gienapp
It all started when we were at my parents house in Florida last Christmas. My mother had bought a used bike with training wheels for our daughter to have during her stay. But the thing was, she had been riding her Like-A-Bike since she was 2 1/2 and I didn’t want her to start counting on training wheels.
So much to the horror of my mom, I took the trainers off.
The circle driveway was perfect for the countdown to disaster… My mom was standing at the door of the house with her hands near her face to cover her eyes when the inevitable happened. I held on to her as we walked around the circle twice so my daughter could get the feel of peddling.
Then I looked at my mom with a glint in my eye and warned my little girl that I was going to give her a push and let her go on her own. With a silent prayer to the bicycle gods and the deities of skinned knees and bruised egos…
I held my breath and gave her a push. And she just took off. No whoaaaa… stop… Lookout!!! DON’T HIT THE…CRASH!!! Just a happy little girl with a smile on her face as big as my heart, telling me to get on the other bike and follow her.
“Of course I knew this was exactly the way it was going to go”, I told my mom as I swung my leg over the bike to catch up with her. I somehow think she saw though my bravado, but smiled the pursed lipped smile of “I am impressed”, and when back inside.
4 year-old riding a bike
Now having a 4 year-old being able to ride a bike and trusting her in traffic areas are two different things. Her body is more than capable of writing checks her maturity can’t cash. So we started to look for something that would allow me to tow her but still give her the freedom to ride by herself when we are in a safer area. We found the solution: the Trail Gator Bicycle Tow Bar Designed by a company in Sarasota, Florida.
Trail Gator in the mail
The moment I got the package in the mail I grabbed my daughter and set up her new bike with this strange gizmo. (I would recommend that if you are not handy or bike savvy you should get your local bike pro to set it up and show you how to use it.)
After a quick spin by myself, we were off together and I just can’t say how much I like the darn thing. We can take a quick run down city streets and as soon as we are on bike paths with no traffic, I disconnect her bike and away she goes. When the time comes that she is too tired to go much farther, I just hook the bike back to mine and we are home for supper.
As an added bonus I get to teach her the rules of the road, signaling turns, how to control her speed going down hills and to avoid over braking. (In the beginning you want them to keep off the brakes totally)
Longer bike trips
Now we have started to take longer trips. The other day we went 8.5 kms (just over 5 miles) to Toronto Island. By the time we got home that evening, she had dinner and barely made it though the first story before she was asleep. (Me too… I fell asleep next to her bed for an hour)
Russell Gienapp is an international freelance cinematographer and feels lucky to make his living doing what he loves in life. Being a cinematographer in the film and television industry, demands skills both creative and physical. His office ranges from the steamy tropics to cold artic conditions. Russell is also the other part of Activekidsclub.com and he lives our motto, “No bad weather, just bad clothing”, everyday when he is on the job or outside teaching his daughter Nature’s little secrets.
