As a Father’s Day present, Ben and I decided to just take his training wheels off on Thurs and GO FOR IT right on our driveway. And so we practiced a bit Thurs and Sat (Fri was the great water gun war), hoping to surprise Daddy with a stellar first ride at Battle Point Park on Father’s Day. Sun was Dave’s first day off in three weeks, so we decided not to add angst to it by doing the very FIRST ride without wheels – I would handle that in private with Mr. Ben. (We had a very interesting time of it when we perhaps too ambitiously tried to take them off before he turned 4 while down at Mom and Richard’s. So we were a tad apprehensive. Sam took his wheels off at 4 yrs and 1 month old, and literally biked away down the hill as if it were no different for him. It was not the same for Ben, who had not had the same amount of regular practice – you have to really make a project of getting to a place conducive for biking with kids.) Anyway…this weekend Ben was just shy of 4 yrs and 1 month old, and so it was time to just do it.

We went to Battle Point Park yesterday afternoon for the big event. Sam on his bike, Ben on his. I had a cold and was feeling not-so-great. Ben biked down a few hills – pretty steep ones some of them – and did great. He flopped around on his bike for a bit on the steepest one, looking for a way to stop the bike and not finding it, just kind of leaned over, belly on his seat, legs flying behind until he came to a roll. It was pretty funny. Then we biked on the bike trail – 3 ft wide and gravelly. Lots of families out for a nice Father’s Day walk, kids and dogs in little jackets. We didn’t check with Dave first – we just took off. And what ensued is exactly what Dave knew would happen – it was a high-speed chase with me in hot pursuit, barely keeping up on the flat. On a grade…well…I was hoping for the best. We saw Dave far in the distance trying to close the gap with us by running across the park – he popped up and surprised us, all smiles. We were so elated to be out on wheels, doing fine. One half-mile down, one mile to go to circumnavigate the park.

It really went well and Ben was thrilled to be biking along. Until we came to a down-grade that crossed a little culvert thing over the pond. The path is about 6 ft wide there, no railings, and a steep dip into the pond on either side unless the brush stopped you. Across the culvert I spy a 10 yr old on a wide recumbent bike taking up half the room. Now Ben is an aware guy, and he would try to miss this guy if he could. So as I’m yelling “SLOW! COOOAAST!” I race to close the gap. Just as I reach him, he veers left to the edge of the culvert. But you never know if he’s being intentional (doing an S as he proudly showed me earlier) or about to take a nose dive. Sam was worried about giving him enough room so Sam veered right. They were both INCHES of going into the drink! I was hyperventilating as we came to a screeching halt on the other side of the recumbent biker. Moms were passing by wide-eyed – I tried to explain it was his first time without training wheels.

We decided we’d hit the playground next – finish up this last 1/2 mile tour of the park. Now it’s asphalt for this section. Ben is fast on the flat, on gravel. Put him on asphalt…I see a group of two men coming toward us and I yell “This guy needs a lot of room!” I yell this from as far away as I can with a sore throat, which is maybe 30 feet. Ben can close 20 ft in 2 seconds. They smile and say “Oh you’re doing great!” and don’t move! I blurt out “No – I mean, if he’s looking at you he’s going to HIT you!” Thankfully he passed by without clipping them and we made it to the playground. When we parked the bike, I kneeled down next to this impressive whirlwind and looked way up at his head, towering above me (I had kneeled way down) and saw his little hairs standing up in the wind, eyes bright, cheeks pink, big smile on. I rubbed his little chest and told him how great he did. He said “I want to do that again some MORE!”

We enjoyed a Father’s Day/birthday/training wheels off dinner at Doc’s and way too much dessert. A good day…I have no pictures of this event because it was such a whirlwind. But I hope this description gives you as sense of the fear and elation which accompanied the big day! Bravo, Big Ben. You are TOOOO much.

A Sam quote Dave just told me:

Dave – “Don’t lie around in an empty tub…time to get out.”

Sam – “It’s not empty. There are trillions of water atoms in here.”