And they're off...

Big milestone for the little guy today. The safety net is gone--training wheels are off!

Max has a glide bike (bike with no crank/pedals) designed to teach balance. We got the bike for him probably close to a year ago but he refused to ride it. (I think the absence of instant gratification was the big hurdle - why screw around with that thing when he can get on his black bike and haul a$$?? Which, he did. Frequently. With his friend Luke. Through Santa Clara University.)

***Brief aside - For those of you who are single, take note. A cute boy with an oversize helmet going way too fast on a bike in the middle of a college campus is nothing short of tantamount to fishing in a barrel with dynamite. Both Max and Luke are available for hourly rental.***

Anyway, finally coaxed him into riding old blue by telling him that his TV time was predicated on some practice with it. We went once around the block three times last week (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday) and the improvement each time was remarkable. It went from constant struggle to keep the bike upright to kicking furiously. On Saturday afternoon, we went to the alley behind our house and I let him kick around absent any agenda. He quickly found some very gradual slopes at entrances to driveways and was playing around on them. After a few minutes, I noticed that he had both feet off the ground. I stopped him and pointed out that he was balancing on his own. You could literally see the eureka moment. With a giant smile, he said "Yeah, dad. I'm balancing." From that point forward, he couldn't go fast enough, turn abruptly enough, roll backwards far enough, the list goes on...

Saturday night we talked about the plan for today. Beach in the morning followed by blue bike time in the alley. After which, he would remove the training wheels from his black bike himself and give it a rip. He seemed to be on board.

Took him to the alley this afternoon and he was doing great. He retained everything that he picked up last night and even inadvertently pulled a wheelie, which he tried desperately for 30-minutes to replicate. So, I suggested we roll back to the house and I could ride his black bike with him. "Yeah, dad!" Got to the house and, as discussed, he removed the training wheels himself with a socket wrench. Dad rode the black bike back to the alley (much to the bewilderment of our neighbors) and we horsed around for a few minutes. Max was teaching me how to ride down the slope and noticed that my bike was going faster than his blue one. He said "let me try that" and went down the driveway twice. I suggested that he put his feet on the pedals and pedal. I gave him a quick shove and that was the end of the training wheels. From that point forward, it was literally a dash to keep up with him.

I'm excited because, unbeknownst to him, it opens a whole new realm of options (yes - from his perspective but mostly from mine...). I've been taking him into the mountains the past several weeks to ride single track (dad pushes while he pedals on the way up) and he's gotten quite proficient at descending steep trails on his own. (Sorry, mom. Send me the bill for the vomit on the slacks.) However, the training wheels made navigating the inconsistent terrain challenging. He already knows how to ride off obstacles (he'll instinctively get off the saddle and slide his rear end back to suck up the drop) so the next challenge is to get him to do that while braking. When it's just the two of us, he is a fantastic listener and is extremely coachable. Hoping that it comes quickly--dad's got plans...

We've also got learning to swim on the docket for this winter. Max desperately wants to go surfing with dad and the brothers, as well as go out on a boat. He tells us he's going to work hard on it and, judging from what we've seen thus far, neither of us doubt it.

Max has been more fun than I could imagine and that's saying a lot coming from (I know this is going to be a shock to many of you) one of the most selfish people on the planet. Can't wait until Finn 1.) stops crying and 2.) gets a little older. Best friend #2 is en route...