First new bicycle
I took our eldest to the bike shop in town yesterday morning to “look” at mountain bikes. She had no idea that I had already agreed a budget, and we might possibly buy a new bike there and then and we did. We were lucky really; the first bike we look at after walking into the shop was on offeran end of line model from Dawes.“Shall we buy it then?”“What? Right now!“The look on her face was priceless.“You're going to need a new helmet too, aren't you.“Again the look of shock on her face was worth every penny. Fifteen minutes after setting foot in the shop, we left with the bike, a helmet, a lock, and the biggest smile in the known universe.
Yesterday evening we headed out together, and somehow, fifty yards from home, she went over the handlebars. I don't quite know how she did it. Something scared her in the same way that a horse might get scared, and she grabbed the brakes. New brakes on a new bike are incredibly powerful from the story I got out of her, she stepped over the handlebars as the bike went vertical, and walked away from it as it cartwheeled into the middle of the road (thankfully a quiet street).
Within seconds I picked the bike up, got her laughing, and we set off again.
Four or five miles laterheading back towards homeshe fell off again, and wasn't so lucky. There were tears this time, but again after a minute or two, she sucked it up and carried on so, so proud of her.
Today she has all kinds of aches and painsmostly from muscles she hasn't used before. I have plans to take her out again this evening for another long rideperhaps with her sisters too. I just need to figure out somewhere relatively quiet to take them