I don’t think there was ever any doubt our Clairebarian was going to be a cyclist. Her mama is a hardcore (almost) all-weather cycle commuter and Claire and I have been doing a lot of getting around by bike ever since she was big enough to sport a helmet. Even now she rides in my cargo bike to her weekend hockey practice and pedals her trailer bike when we take it to run errands. Mountain biking? That was always going to be up to her.
This September, she overcame some anxiousness she was feeling about riding her bike on her own, and then all of a sudden we were riding all the time. Quiet paved loops from the house, her first gravel rides. Awesome. Both Nina and I love riding the Shore, but it’s clearly not for everyone, and as long as Claire was having a great time pedaling a future of family rides was laid out in front of us, magically. And then, one day those five magic words:
Claire: “Can I try mountain biking?”
Andrew: “We’ve been mountain biking lots!”
C: “No, that’s gravel riding. I want to do real mountain biking.”
A: “Oh, ‘REAL’ mountain biking… okay, yes!”
The learning curve for children is amazing. From that first very cautious hike-and-bike down Roadside Attraction to rolling the log at the bottom of High School Trail, to doing the “Corner Bridge” on Bobsled, to eating sh*t all over the Bridal Path and Sticks-and-Stones, she’s loved the entire experience to date.
She loves her callouses. She loves her bruises. She loves her bike.
In the month of October we actually mountain biked at least as many days after school as we didn’t. I didn’t believe it looking back and had to get out the old hand-bacus to add them up. Claire has started recognizing people on Fromme like the German dudes with the camper van who ask her about her crashes and Megan whose name she always remembers one corner too late.
I’ve been asked by a fair few parents about what ‘I’ or ‘We’ did to get Claire so excited about riding bikes offroad and I have to say they usually seem disappointed with my answer. She’s growing up in a family that loves riding bikes and loves mountain biking, but beyond that, she’s challenging herself and learning at her own pace and fueling her own passion for being out on the trails. Our household has no qualms about going out in any weather conditions and she’s been hiking in the rain since before she could walk and I think that resilience is a great jumping-on point for this awesome activity.
Oh, and we pre-cook a lot of meals and do a lot of late-night laundries, and whatever else it takes so that when she wants to go mountain biking the answer can, as often as possible, be “yes.”
We always ride the trails that she wants to ride, even when we agree to try something new. She always goes first unless if she wants me to go first. And I have to carry snacks, spare gloves, and the chin bar for her helmet (and previously her full-face helmet) whenever they aren’t in use. Believe me, it’s a very small price to pay.