Monthly Archives: April 2020

Photo-A-Day

Actually Doing The Bike Riding Thing Again

Andy on his bike

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00472

Been talking about my kids riding their bikes this week. A lot! Well, today Andy got back on his actual bike and Eva strode out the door when she needed a break in order to take a bike ride around the block a few times. If you are reading my daughter’s family blog posts on her Quarantine Weekly (more like daily) site you already know that she is bike riding on her own. She’s got a route to ride that she likes to do and doesn’t go venturing beyond that route at this point. Of course, no one can ride with her anymore because she has grown into being able to ride the largest bike we have.

Eva on Her Bike

I ran an errand today to bring a special Marvel mask that Allison made to the owner of Wild Time Comics. He often plays Thor during Free Comic Book Day and when Allison made this mask it just so happened to feature Thor on it prominently. So, I brought him one and picked up my comics and checked out what he had been doing in the store. I had my Marvel mask on which features Iron Man.

As I was heading back Allison called me and told me that the downstairs toilet was broken. Specifically, the flusher arm was corroded and had bent. I ran over to Lowe’s and picked up a replacement and some other things that we had needed. When I got home I fixed the flusher arm.

Since I had taken the tools out I figured I would try and fix Eva’s old bike so that Andy could ride it. The front brake was giving me a ton of trouble so that just got removed. The bike is a single gear bike so when you pedal backwards that is your brake. The hand brakes were overkill. Then I tried to put on the training wheels but they would not fit that bike. I could get one side on but the chain guard on the other side prevented me from attaching the wheels. Because that did not work, I put the training wheels back on Andy’s bike. This time I put the proper stays in place so that training wheels would not slip. Then Andy and Eva rode up and down the street. He’s just got to do more riding where he is comfortable until he gets comfortable enough to want the training wheels taken off. I’ve got them at the lowest position now and eventually I’ll bring them up a bit so he has to balance more. But for now, I’m not going to push him. He’s already motivated to get them taken off so that he’s not riding with training wheels alongside his younger cousin who no longer needs them.

Photo-A-Day

Trying this Bike Riding Thing Again

Geared up for a Walk and Bike Ride

Photo-A-Day 2.0 #00471

Yesterday we went for a bike ride around the block twice and had disastrous results. Today we tried again but this time Andy rode on his Nerf Battle Racer go Kart that we got from Hauck. They gave it to me free for a review but are not promoting their outdoor toys right now because of the COVID pandemic. Well, we are still going to do walks but we will stay safe with the masks that Allison has made for us. These were some of her first ones. Actually, Eva made her own.

This time our walk/bike ride was a lot better. Andy appears to already be outgrowing the Battle Racer, he’s all legs. Eva is getting quite confident riding her bike. I was super sore from Monday’s Krav Workout which was all legs. I was a lot more patient this time even when Andy complained about the soreness of his tush on the Battle Racer’s seat. He did fly along though and got some good exercise.

When we got back to the house I told Eva that she could go up the street on her own and do around the corner and back down. She was excited and nervous to be out of our eyesight when she rode her bike. But she went up and around and back and was fine. It is so weird thinking about when I was a kid riding my bike all over creation with my friends and my parents having no idea exactly where I was all the time. I was reminded of the time when I was hit by a car when I was out riding my bike. A childhood friend posted a photo of the old red and white van that her father drove and which I was riding behind when I cut across the street and got hit.

This evening we had our Karate and Krav classes. I helped Andy with his as he needed someone to hold pads for him. For my class I found a carabiner that could hold about 150lbs and was able to put the heavy bag back up. I am glad that I did because I had to do 500 jabs on the left and the right (500 each arm) and if I had done that in the air I would have really hated it. But having the heavy bag was really helpful.