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glatt · 07-28-2006, 07:53 AM

My 7 year old has been riding around on basketball courts, etc. for a couple of years. She likes riding her bike, but the roads around here are so busy, we've always kept her to the empty basketball courts.

Well, last weekend, my wife took my son to a birthday party for a couple of hours, and I figured it was the perfect time for me to introduce my daughter to the bike paths of Arlington county. I was a little nervous, because about a third of the people who use the paths are very serious riders who go fast. My daughter, weaving on her wobbly bike would have to really focus to stay safe.

So we had a little talk about how we were going to ride single file, with her in front setting the pace, and how she had to stay on the right side of the yellow line painted down the center of the path. She started off kind of nervous, but then soon gained some confidence. We rode by some of the playgrounds that were near our house, and then started going a little farther. At on intersection, I offered her the choice of heading home or continuing to explore. She very enthusiastically wanted to press on. So we kept going. After about an hour, we came upon a really cool playground that is clear across town. She couldn't believe that we had ridden our bikes that far. It normally takes 20 minutes in the car to get there. I could almost see the wheels turning in her head as she realized that her bike was a serious form of transportation. We pressed on even farther.

After about an hour and a half of leisurly riding, the plastic chain guard on the crappy kid's bike I was riding snapped, and my bike started making annoying sounds. So we turned around and headed home on a much faster trail. She had to really focus on this one, because there was a lot of bike traffic and most of it was going fast. Only once did we have a near collision, and that was when we went over a narrow foot/bike bridge, and she looked at the stream below as we went over. She swerved into the oncoming lane just as a racing bike was coming up fast. The other guy screeched to a stop just as I was yelling to my daughter to watch where she was going. The guy was a little miffed, but he didn't say anything, just shook his head and went on his way as I apologized. I think she learned from that incident.

After we got home, I got out GoogleEarth and mapped out our route. We went 6.8 miles round trip. I was pretty impressed that she went that far without any trouble. We'll have to do this alot more often, and I'll have to tune up my ten speed buried under a pile of junk in the basement.

07-28-2006, 07:53 AM	#336
glatt ™ Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Arlington, VA Posts: 27,717	My 7 year old has been riding around on basketball courts, etc. for a couple of years. She likes riding her bike, but the roads around here are so busy, we've always kept her to the empty basketball courts. Well, last weekend, my wife took my son to a birthday party for a couple of hours, and I figured it was the perfect time for me to introduce my daughter to the bike paths of Arlington county. I was a little nervous, because about a third of the people who use the paths are very serious riders who go fast. My daughter, weaving on her wobbly bike would have to really focus to stay safe. So we had a little talk about how we were going to ride single file, with her in front setting the pace, and how she had to stay on the right side of the yellow line painted down the center of the path. She started off kind of nervous, but then soon gained some confidence. We rode by some of the playgrounds that were near our house, and then started going a little farther. At on intersection, I offered her the choice of heading home or continuing to explore. She very enthusiastically wanted to press on. So we kept going. After about an hour, we came upon a really cool playground that is clear across town. She couldn't believe that we had ridden our bikes that far. It normally takes 20 minutes in the car to get there. I could almost see the wheels turning in her head as she realized that her bike was a serious form of transportation. We pressed on even farther. After about an hour and a half of leisurly riding, the plastic chain guard on the crappy kid's bike I was riding snapped, and my bike started making annoying sounds. So we turned around and headed home on a much faster trail. She had to really focus on this one, because there was a lot of bike traffic and most of it was going fast. Only once did we have a near collision, and that was when we went over a narrow foot/bike bridge, and she looked at the stream below as we went over. She swerved into the oncoming lane just as a racing bike was coming up fast. The other guy screeched to a stop just as I was yelling to my daughter to watch where she was going. The guy was a little miffed, but he didn't say anything, just shook his head and went on his way as I apologized. I think she learned from that incident. After we got home, I got out GoogleEarth and mapped out our route. We went 6.8 miles round trip. I was pretty impressed that she went that far without any trouble. We'll have to do this alot more often, and I'll have to tune up my ten speed buried under a pile of junk in the basement.