and peddle off...

we got her a new bike for her 5th birthday yesterday, so today spent a good chunk of the afternoon at the nearby Alyn Waters park so she could properly stretch her peddles.

There was no stopping her, and it was a great thing to see. When she was 3 we got her a balance bike, and if I'm honest ever since I've doubted wether the thing was actually any good or not because she never seemed to spend a lot of time 'balancing', favouring the seated toddleandwobble method over freewheeling anything over a couple of feet, despite loving it and using it A LOT. I was also starting to think that learning to balance at the expense of learning to peddle may prove to be an issue too, so when Nain and Taid bought her a bike last year with stabilisers on I didn't really cast much of a frown because, well, learning to peddle is another string to the bow, right?

Today she proved that balance bikes and stabilisers both work hand-in-hand. Even on rough ground she was pretty gung-ho, and got the hang of using the brakes properly and favouring the back one within just a few goes. If she keeps this up she'll be doing downhill by the time she's twelve.

Maybe I'll have to get MYSELF a new mountain bike now, eh ;)