Look Who Got a New Bike!

My 10-year-old is the proud new owner of an adult-sized tricycle, and he is over the moon! This baby has 7 speeds, and a basket for bringing a whole armful of stuffed animals along for the ride. I don’t share photos of his face here, but believe me, he is grinning from ear-to-ear!

Riding a bike has been an on-going challenge for my son. For many years, I believe he struggled with left-right coordination, which basically means that he could not get his legs/feet to work together well enough to pedal a bike. I remember spending hours with him and his first little tricycle, trying so hard to teach him to ride it. I would get down on the ground in front of him, place my hands on top of his feet, and push down one foot, and then the other foot, over and over again, but he just couldn’t master the alternating push-downs on his own.

We eventually gave up on the tricycle idea, and got him a little 3-wheeled scooter that balanced itself. He did much better at that, as he only had to control one foot at a time to push off.

One day, after three or four years of growing, developing, and practicing his coordination with his scooter, he surprised us by hopping onto a display bike at Walmart riding away on it!

That first bike, a two-wheeler with training wheels, was life-changing. The newfound independence that bicycle gave him brought endless smiles. His new favorite thing to do became riding his bike to a nearby trail, (carefully and safely beside Mom or Dad on the street), then “letting ‘er rip” with all he had on the trail where we could allow him to safely leave our side. To this day, one of my favorite memories of him is seeing his feet pump those pedals and hearing his little voice shouting, “whoo-hoo” as he put distance between us. That bike gave him so much freedom and joy at a time when the rest of his life was rigidly ruled by other aspects of his autism.  

Slowly however, his bike began to sit for longer and longer periods without being ridden. He had comically and painfully out-grown the largest bike that still came with training wheels, but he just wasn’t ready for a bike without them. Although he had managed to improve his left-right coordination, his balance was still too unsteady.

This year, we were determined to give him back the activity that meant so much to him. So after some shopping around, we picked out a tricycle that will grow with him for a few years.

“What do you think?” I asked him after his first test-ride around the block.

“I am doing GREAT!” He said, as he pedaled away.

As I watched him go, I heard his big-kid voice drifting back to me… “whoo-hoo!”

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