Matthew the Biker

Matthew loves riding his bike these days. He's accomplished several feats this last month in regards to his biking ability.

About four weeks ago Matthew took his first major biking spill. It happened as took a down hill approach to some wood posts on a biking trail. All afternoon Matthew enjoyed listening to me and Grandmother Ruthie encourage him to use "a little more brake." Dealing with the steering challenge of the posts and the downhill challenge proved a little to much for our daring Matthew and he took a over-the-handle-bar-land-on-your head spill. After some of the trauma wore off he was able to shake it off and even opted to get back on his bike. Ironically, he decided to get back on as we approached another set of posts proceeded by a short downhill. Go figure.

Last week I felt the need to get out for a walk and I thought that Matthew might enjoy riding his bike. So, we headed to Greenlake. We parked on the far side of the lake and to walked/biked to the playground to play. After playing I figured that we had the option of either going back the way we came or continuing around the lake. Well, Matthew was a trooper choose to continue around the lake. Though we took a few short breaks along the way to look at different things and a long lunch break at the park, he did manage to bike almost the entire 2.8 ish miles (I think) without any help. He did walk the last 100 meters or so after complaining that his bum hurt. Opps. I hadn't thought about that being an issue.

When it comes to biking Matthew is a great self-motivator. He often comments about his strong little legs. He's not slow to admit that there are times that riding his bike is tough. But he's found at least one sure fire way to get past the pain. Today, while biking up a hill (okay, a slight incline) I heard him mumbling something. As I got closer I realized that he was repeating, "Go Matthew, go Matthew, go Matthew . . . "

GO MATTHEW!

Seth along for the ride: