Biking Like a REAL Big Boy

Ethan is getting very interested in taking long bike rides, and doesn't want to sit passively in the Burley any more. (He’s also getting a little tall for the trailer.) So on Monday we bought him a Hitchhiker (similar to the bike in the picture here). And he LOVES it. 

He and John were installing the “hitch” on my bike when I got home on Monday, and Ethan was so excited that he insisted we go out for a ride right away. Since then, we’ve ridden almost every night after dinner. We’ve ridden north, we’ve ridden south, we’ve ridden west. (The Cubs are in town, so we’ve been avoiding east.) 

When we set out on our first ride, I warned Ethan that it might be a little scary because the Hitchhiker doesn’t have training wheels, so he would probably wobble more than he’s used to. We hadn’t even made it a block down Byron on our trail spin when Ethan shouted from the back, “This isn’t scary at all. I LOVE this.”

Unfortunately, now he doesn’t want to ride in the Burley at all, and at the moment we can’t hook the Hitchhiker to John’s bike because he can’t get his seat off. So on Wednesday night, Ethan asked me, “Are you going to work tomorrow, Mommy?”

“Yes, I have to go to work tomorrow.”

“Are you going to ride your bike to work?”

“Yes, sweetie, I’m planning to bike. Why?”

“I wanted to ride my bike to Lil’ Kickers [soccer] tomorrow.”

“Well, I’m afraid you’ll have to go over in the Burley like you usually do. That’s kind of far for Daddy to ride my bike even if I didn’t ride to work.”

Out comes the long face. “Oh.” Pause. “I don’t like riding in the Burley. I like riding the bike better.”

On Thursday he tried to convince John to buy a new bike so he could hook the Hitchhiker up to it. (The boy is persistent.)