How Both Kids Learned to Ride a Bike on the Same Day

 
I'll be honest -- it had definitely crossed my mind that this would be the perfect time for the kids to learn to ride a bike. With a stay-at-home order in place because of COVID-19, we can't really go anywhere or see anyone, so there would be no excuse not to practice.

It was a beautiful 70 degrees on April 8, and the kids and I were having fun playing outside. Almost on a whim I got out a bike without training wheels from the garage. They both seemed excited at the prospect of trying, which was quite a change from the year before. Last summer Edith had made the attempt without getting too far. She just couldn't get the hang of keeping her balance.

I had rather expected that Atticus might just be able to ride a bike before Edith. He's a pro at the balance bike -- a balance bike that, in fact, was given to Edith by her grandparents years ago but she never really took to. In essence, when I got out that bike earlier this month, both kids were at the same starting line.

As I predicted, Atticus showed early promise on the bike, but Edith just couldn't let her little brother excel without (or before!) her. Before long, they were both pedaling a few house lengths before putting their feet down. And all it took was a few hours on a lovely afternoon.

They've continued to practice since that day and have continued to improve their turns, starts and brakes. We're not quite ready to go on a full bike ride together, but it won't be long!

Biking of All Kinds in Columbus

I need a bike.

I now live about a 5-minute walk from one of the city's best trails, and I can see only a fraction of it since I don't run and don't have a bicycle. But until the day comes when I can pedal on my own set of wheels, I'll have to be content looking at other types of bicycles in Columbus.

First, I was shocked to find out that Columbus recently started its own bike share program, called CoGo. New York, after all, started its own bike program only this year. Who said Ohio is behind the curve? Unfortunately the bikes here in Columbus aren't available in our neighborhood, but instead only in and near the downtown area. Still, pretty cool.

Second, Cycle Tavern. This is pretty much what you would expect it to be: A 16-person bicycle that pedals from bar to bar in Columbus. You can't actually drink on the bike, although I heard that it was totally allowed when it first started. It's essentially a pub crawl by bike, rentable by the hour -- $190/hour on Fridays and Saturdays, $160/hour any other day of the week.

So even though I don't have my own bicycle yet, plenty of people in Columbus are, in fact, biking for one reason or another.