We've been working with The Boy on learning to ride a bike for 2 solid years. Even though he is very athletic and any sport with a ball is second nature to him, riding a bike had continued to evade him. At 9 years old he could not even pedal a bike with training wheels. Its not the balancing. You should see him on a scooter, he's a speed demon with amazing balance. And even on a bike with no training wheels he could push it along with his feet on the ground and then lift them up and coast for yards and yards. He has the balance. It's the motor planning required for pedaling that has been his nemesis. He simply could not get his legs to push down, pull up in alternating fashion.
With the change to the new school last September, The Boy was suddently included not only in PE with his GenEd class, but also Adaptive PE with his SpEd class. He has APE every day and twice a week they work on bike riding. Yay! With a variety of trikes and bikes of every configuration imaginable, they begain working with The Boy on the mechanics of pedaling a bike.
Sometime during the fall, the APE teacher suggested we get The Boy a "Big Wheel" type trike big enough for him to ride at home. Apparently the angle of pedaling this is different and easier than a bike. So Santa brought him a Razer Rip-Rider 360. We chose this as we thought this was something that a "typical" 9 year old might like and wouldn't be fodder for teasing or stares. (And come to find out, his 11 year old cousin had requested and received the exact same trike for Christmas) We were pleasantly surprised to see him get right on it and pedal away on Christmas morning.
After several months of watching him ride around on this trike like a mad man, we once again decided to reintroduce the "big boy bike". The Razer 360 is great for riding around our cul de sac, but doesn't really work well for family bike rides which was our ultimate goal. So over a long weekend at the fun house (which has multiple bike paths that lead every where he likes to go) I put on his helmet, grabbed the back of his bike seat and we took off for the river. He did awesome! By the end of that weekend he could ride for a couple of miles with me running along side of him providing minimal support.
By the time Spring Break rolled around around, he was riding completely independently. We went for a 6 mile family bike ride. A few months ago I didn't know if this would ever happen. I loved every minute of it. It was simply extraordinary.
"When normal isn't normal, it becomes extraordinary."
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