Adam - learning to ride

Last summer I helped a little boy called Adam to get pedalling. Here is his story...

Adam is three and a half, and a super-keen little bundle of energy!

He has loved going out on the child seat on the back of his Dad’s bike since he was little, and quickly got to grips with balancing and gliding on his balance bike. His little brother Freddie is now ready to take over the child seat and the family would like to go out cycling all together. They are investing in a tagalong but for short traffic free routes it would be great if Adam could pedal independently.

He has a lovely pedal bike, in his favourite colours – blue and orange. His parents popped stabilisers on so that they could all go out together. Adam enjoyed this…but once those stabilisers came off he had lost his confidence balancing and after a few attempts refused to try any longer!

Adam’s mum Emma asked me if I could help and I very willingly agreed, knowing from experience that children are more likely to persevere when a professional in a high vis jacket is suggesting tips to help them ride. It sounded like Adam had the skills but was just lacking the patience and confidence to try.

When I arrived he was full of enthusiasm and had even had a short time earlier in the afternoon where his mum hadn’t been holding him! I lowered the saddle a little to help him to be able to stop more safely and get going more easily, and then we were off pedalling up and down the estate. It wasn’t long at all before he was riding independently so most of the session was spent helping him to get going by himself.

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You need quite a lot of momentum to get going and Adam is still quite young so using his feet to scoot along and then putting his feet on the pedals was the best solution for now, but I showed Emma how the safest way to start as he gets older is to set the pedal and push down. Adam was really looking forward to showing off his new found skills to his Dad. I’m sure that the whole family are going to have loads of cycling adventures! I suggested a few local traffic-free routes such as the old railway line in Didcot (route 544) and the Phoenix Trail near Thame.

A few days after the session Adam’s mum got in touch and said ‘Adam had his first ride yesterday with his best friend both not on stabilisers around the kinecroft and Adam taught his friend how to scoot off and get pedalling! He’s loving cycling, we are hoping to do Upton or Phoenix at weekend, I’ve had to start jogging round the estate with him or I can’t keep up!!’

Keep those wheels rolling Adam and family!