On the come up; Philip de Jong

Apr 26, 2007

Written by Bart de Jong

Read 28261 times

I really can't remember my first day of riding a bike without training wheels. It was a long time ago and a couple of photos show that I was little, very little. As far as I do remember it was a direct drive kids bike that I had to learn it on and somehow I managed to stay upright. Today was a day to remember. Not necessarily for myself, but for my son Philip. After spending lots of time at the local trails on the Paul's Boutique sponsored push bike, Philip discovered the Haro Z12 in the shed and asked me to take it out.

It did not have any pedals because this way it almost felt the same as his yellow push bike. He preferred the lightweight yellow bike over the rather heavy Z12 up until today.

When we arrived at the grandparents I put some pedals on the blue HARO to see how he would do. 10 seconds later he simply took off riding the bike on his own without the training wheels. I was running behind him and had trouble keeping up. I was expecting him to fall over when he stopped but he simply put his feet down just like he does when using the yellow bike that doesn't have any pedals or drivetrain. Before saying hello to the grandparents Philip had already done three laps on his own. He's got it down and didn't want to stop.

First trick he learned today was the skid. Riding at full speed and then he hits that coaster brake resulting in a little tire squeek. Affter Paul saw the skid-action he already put some 12 1/2" tires on order because they won't last very long this way.

Daddy is proud. See you at the trails.

BdJ