Trike-athon 2.0

Liam's kindergarten class held their Trike-athon last Saturday, Nov. 1st.

Luckily it wasn't scheduled too early in the morning so we could sleep in a little from our Halloween festivities the night before. We were assigned to bring a fruit tray to the trike-athon, so Anna went to the store that morning and got some melons to cut up.

Friday I made sure there was air in the tires of the bike he would be riding, and also oiled up the axles, chain, and other moving parts. The bike was good to go. Liam on the other hand, needed some work. Anna had a moment to get Liam on the bike and help him practice riding, but our little bit of cement isn't that big to begin with, plus we've got stuff all over it, and that makes for a lot of turns and slow pedaling.

Anna had to get back to something inside, and Liam was done trying. I finished up mowing our front yard, and took Liam out to practice some more. Liam wasn't feeling it, but got on the bike anyway. Then I told him to follow me, and headed for the gate. He was pretty confused until he figured out we were going to the street, and he perked up a bit. Once we were at the street, I was able to put his helmet on him without much protest, and we headed down the street.

It's slightly down hill going away from our house, so pedaling was quite easy. I had to show Liam how to stop because he was getting a little scared that he kept going faster and faster. He seemed to pick up on that right away, and we made a U turn to head back home. Now it's lightly up hill to our house. A bit harder to pedal. Liam struggled to maintain forward motion, so I helped push him along by the seat, so he would think he was doing good by himself. Now he was excited to go.

Somehow there was some confusion as to when we thought it started because when we got to the park for the trike-athon, it was in full swing. We unloaded and got Liam going. I walked along the bike path a little behind Liam just in case. The other kids were happy to see Liam there, and were a good influence on him to keep going, even if he was slow. Liam did great! There was only one time I needed to help him along on a slight incline. But with each incline, there's usually a decline.

As Liam approached the starting area where he would complete his first lap, the slight decline increased a bit, and Liam totally forgot how to break. He plowed right into another kid from his class who was riding a scooter, and they both ate it. His classmate, Kyle, was just fine. He got back up and kept going. Liam on the other hand, scraped up both knees. They had a first aid kit, and washed out his knees, put a bandage on the worse of the two scrapes and Liam said he wanted to keep going. He was pretty sad about his knees, and went even slower the first quarter of the second lap. As his classmates were on the path and passing him, they were very encouraging, and he felt better, and he picked up his pace. As he approached the end of the second lap, and was on the decline, Anna intercepted him before he got too out of control, but by this time, the riding part was done. Liam only got to ride about 10 of the 30 minutes allotted. He completed two laps.

Once the riding part was over, it was just hang out time. There were plenty of snacks and drinks for everyone. All of the kids got to play on the playground, and there was some picture taking. Then it was time to head home.

A fun trike-athon. Too bad we were a bit late. But still good.

Here are some pictures of the event...

**I titled this post "Trike-athon 2.0" because Duncan did it last year.**