Green Machines
Keep On Rollin'
08/07/08 06:02 Filed in: Good ol'
Days |
My
Kids' A BadAss!
I love to ride, but am in a bit of a holding pattern
because the ‘Things are getting too big and too
independent for bike seats, carriers, or trailers,
but not big enough to keep up on their own yet. To
see them tackling this hill on their own, let me just
say it was inspiring. It had me dreaming of the day
when I could buy them their first Stinky 2-4., their first full face helmet, and their
first Seasons Pass to The Park at C.O.P. But I’m
getting waaaay ahead of my self.
It got me thinking about learning to ride a bike and the first kinds of things I learned on. I remember, only because there is home movie evidence of the fact, that my first wheeled experience was before I could walk in one of those baby walkers. You know, the ones that are banned now. (which is sooooooo lame.) There I am ripping around my grandparents farmhouse, and yard in this thing, maybe that’s why I like to ride so much.....
Anyway I was trying to remember what other bikes I had and couldn’t until the first bike I bought with my own money which was when I was 13, so what did I learn on? It’s been driving me crazy. What were bikes like when I was kid? Then it hit me, the coolest bike-like thing you could have when I was little, The Big Wheel! and of course it’s mutant cousin the Green Machine! Then it hit me again! I never had either of these bad-ass rides! It was the rich kids with the big house, the hot mom, and the dad who did custom car work, who lived around the corner that had these coveted machines. They were twins, and they each had one. To top it off, these kids were super cool, and by that I mean they were so nice and let all their friends use all their stuff. For two summers it was Power-Slide Heaven!
I went looking for pictures of said machines and found this video:
I think that says it all.
Now of course when we went looking for bikes for our girls they had to be cool. Poppy & Grandma got ThingOne her first trike for Christams one year but being a summer baby and a small kid she was never the right size for it. It was a classic red/white combo with some sweet pinstriping on it. I then saw a metallic bubble gum pink Trike with a skateboard style wooden deck for the footrests at the back and chrome trim which looks amazing but tips over instantly. So we jumped straight to a two-wheeler with training wheels. She’s done quite well with this one but again confidence issues and her small size have slowed her progress a little. Last summer, we had to find something for ThingTwo because she was constantly wanting to ride the big bikes and did not under any circumstances want help. We found this awesome “Radio Flyer Scoot-About” and though it took until this summer to not get her feet caught she’s wired it now and is ripping! In my earnest excitement and the observation that ThingTwo was picking up things faster due to keeping up with her big Sister, I decided she needed a two-wheeler, and the perfect choice would be a “Run-Bike” A tiny little bike with no pedals that they push like Fred Flinstone with their feet. The idea is to bypass training wheels and get them balancing before they have to worry about pedals. Well, ThingTwo is also on the smallish side and the bike is just * * that much too big for her. Guess what ThingOne is riding.....her little sister’s run-bike. It is awesome! She is learning how to balance and coast and in two days can coast halfway down the block without touching! Not to forget the aforementioned downhilling. She has been riding it in the basement and the backyard for a few weeks now but there isn’t enough room down there to really coast so, Two Days! Woo Hoo!
Today I am a Big Proud Daddy.
Oh, by the way, you can now click on the small images to GO BIG OR GO HOME!
BBD.
It got me thinking about learning to ride a bike and the first kinds of things I learned on. I remember, only because there is home movie evidence of the fact, that my first wheeled experience was before I could walk in one of those baby walkers. You know, the ones that are banned now. (which is sooooooo lame.) There I am ripping around my grandparents farmhouse, and yard in this thing, maybe that’s why I like to ride so much.....
Anyway I was trying to remember what other bikes I had and couldn’t until the first bike I bought with my own money which was when I was 13, so what did I learn on? It’s been driving me crazy. What were bikes like when I was kid? Then it hit me, the coolest bike-like thing you could have when I was little, The Big Wheel! and of course it’s mutant cousin the Green Machine! Then it hit me again! I never had either of these bad-ass rides! It was the rich kids with the big house, the hot mom, and the dad who did custom car work, who lived around the corner that had these coveted machines. They were twins, and they each had one. To top it off, these kids were super cool, and by that I mean they were so nice and let all their friends use all their stuff. For two summers it was Power-Slide Heaven!
I went looking for pictures of said machines and found this video:
I think that says it all.
Now of course when we went looking for bikes for our girls they had to be cool. Poppy & Grandma got ThingOne her first trike for Christams one year but being a summer baby and a small kid she was never the right size for it. It was a classic red/white combo with some sweet pinstriping on it. I then saw a metallic bubble gum pink Trike with a skateboard style wooden deck for the footrests at the back and chrome trim which looks amazing but tips over instantly. So we jumped straight to a two-wheeler with training wheels. She’s done quite well with this one but again confidence issues and her small size have slowed her progress a little. Last summer, we had to find something for ThingTwo because she was constantly wanting to ride the big bikes and did not under any circumstances want help. We found this awesome “Radio Flyer Scoot-About” and though it took until this summer to not get her feet caught she’s wired it now and is ripping! In my earnest excitement and the observation that ThingTwo was picking up things faster due to keeping up with her big Sister, I decided she needed a two-wheeler, and the perfect choice would be a “Run-Bike” A tiny little bike with no pedals that they push like Fred Flinstone with their feet. The idea is to bypass training wheels and get them balancing before they have to worry about pedals. Well, ThingTwo is also on the smallish side and the bike is just * * that much too big for her. Guess what ThingOne is riding.....her little sister’s run-bike. It is awesome! She is learning how to balance and coast and in two days can coast halfway down the block without touching! Not to forget the aforementioned downhilling. She has been riding it in the basement and the backyard for a few weeks now but there isn’t enough room down there to really coast so, Two Days! Woo Hoo!
Today I am a Big Proud Daddy.
Oh, by the way, you can now click on the small images to GO BIG OR GO HOME!
BBD.
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