Henry has not had as many opportunities to race his balance bike as Owen did, so I was excited to hear that his balance bike club, Ready Steady Riders, were setting up a race over the Easter weekend. I was unsure if Henry would want to ride his balance bike after getting a pedal bike for his birthday, but he has not mastered it yet, so was happy to ride his balance bike.
The race was held on a spare asphalt area at Via2 Riding, a motocross track in Birmingham. The simple track was ideal for Henry though. He was a bit reluctant to do any practice laps, but once he had done the first he got stuck in, getting faster and faster each time. He had a solid second place in his first heat, but then had a bit of a break until his next heat and rode off, so it was a bit of a rush to get him back to the start line, but even then he managed another second place. His third, and final, heat was immediately after, so I had to rush him back to the start line. I think this unsettled him, as he was looking around for us as the gate dropped and finished fourth.
Pleased with his racing, Henry demanded more Easter eggs, and was actually sat in the back of the van, stuffing his face with chocolate when he was called to participate in the five-rider final! It was another rush to the startline, and another slow start for Henry, but he had his race face on and managed to pull back a place on the middle straight and finished in fourth place, just off the podium – Team Craik’s best ever result at a balance bike race! We celebrated with ice creams and a picnic out of the back of the van. I had been a bit concerned that Owen would get bored, but as it was a small site, he was able to do his own thing and cheer for Henry. He also got to ride the track on his BMX after the balance bike racing had finished.
Although he did not get a trophy, Henry was very happy to get a medal, as Owen has a few from his races, and Henry was yet to get one. On the way home, we stopped to get the boys some new shoes at Resorts World, Henry really was living his best life!
Since changing jobs and working full time again, I have missed my Fridays off with Henry, but we ended up with a Saturday to ourselves and made the most of it! We started off with the Ready Steady Riders Super Saturday at Birmingham BMX track. It has been a while since Henry last went, and both his riding and attitude have improved considerably. He was happy to just keep doing laps of the balance bike track, the only wobble he had was when the bigger kids went for their session on the full-size BMX track – however, once we had agreed that he could do the big track session on our next visit he got on with riding the balance bike track. With only three other riders it was a good session and they all rode well together. Henry only stopped to pester me for snacks! At the end of the session, they were invited to join the group on the big track, who were being filmed for the Commonwealth Games, Henry looked a bit nervous at the top of the big ramp, but did not hesitate to drop in, in fact, he did not even wait for his name to be called! As the light was good I brought my camera kit along and got some nice photos.
After the bike track, we went to Sutton Park to meet my friend Partho, and his dog Otto. Otto is a miniature dachshund and Henry’s “favourite dog”. Henry often asks to see photos of Otto on my phone. Otto seems to like Henry too! Henry was so good holding Otto’s lead, they looked so cute together walking through the park – everyone walking past commented! After a solid hour of riding and a long walk, Henry was starting to flag towards the end and needed carrying, but it was nice to be out in the park. Then, having worked up an appetite we grabbed some lunch at the pub. Henry was flagging by this point and even got to the second stage of tired toddler – the mad half hour. Otto loved having an excitable Henry to play with and it was so cute watching them play together, however, I knew it was time to get Henry to the van for a nap. Before we left, Henry had just enough energy to get into Partho’s car, sitting next to Otto. He asks to do this every time he sees Otto in the car – Henry is a stickler for routines and sitting in the back of Partho’s car with Otto is another one of his favourite routines.
By the time we got out of Sutton Coldfield, Henry was fast asleep in his car seat after a very busy morning! It has only been two months since I started working full time, but he seems so much more grown-up than when we last had a Daddy and Henry day out. It is hard to believe that he will be three next week!
Henry’s balance bike club, Ready Steady Riders, organised a trip to Adrenaline Alley in Corby, the biggest indoor skatepark in Europe – I knew Henry would love it, so put his name down straight away. Since telling him about it, every weekend he has asked if we are going to “the big skatepark”. Because the skatepark is indoors, two-year-old logic means that Henry thinks that his coach must live there!
The trip just happened to be arranged on the stormiest weekend of the winter, so I was not bothered about missing my usual Sunday morning ride, and was actually quite looking forward to a road trip in the van with Henry! As a special treat, I moved Henry’s seat to the front, next to me – which he loved. He gets a much better view out of the front of the van than he does in my MR2 Roadster, so was excitedly telling me all the things he could see.
We were in a different part of Adrenaline Alley to when Owen and I visited back in 2020, and it seemed like a better set-up, with a good viewing area/grandstand for parents. Henry got stuck in and did some good riding, only stopping to pester me for sweets after each lap, because for some reason Henry seems to associate skateparks with snacks. At one point there were some races and Henry won his race against the other smaller boys, he also did a good job of waiting patiently before and after the race. Henry did not want to try riding down the roll-in, but made use of the quieter track to do some more laps, before declaring that it was “time to go home”. Fortunately, I was able to convince him to ride some more after a rest and some more snacks. Henry did some of his best riding towards the end of the session, so I am glad he went back out. It was also good to see him jostling with the bigger boys to get to the front of the queue – obviously, normally I would not condone that sort of behaviour, but Henry can be really wary of other children, likely due to lack of opportunities to mix with other children over the last few years, so I am glad to see him getting more confident.
Then it was time for cake, as the trip was a belated sixth birthday celebration for Ready Steady Riders! We all went to the cafe, via a tour of the skate park and gatecrashing a YouTube video. Again Henry was really good in the cafe singing “happy birthday” and helping to blow out the candles on the cake, then when it was time to leave he gave his coach a big hug. He managed to stay awake for most of the drive home, counting the wind turbines, albeit missing out the numbers three, four and five. He also told me that he will be six on his next birthday.
It was great to have a bike trip with Henry, as it is usually something that I do with Owen. Henry did some good riding but I was most impressed by his attitude and behaviour. I am going to try to build on this by taking him to more Ready Steady Riders sessions, at least until he starts to ride the pedal bike that he will be getting for his birthday next month…
On Sunday we were meant to have a family ride at Cannock Chase, joining in with the Little Rippers MTB x Ready Steady Riders ride. Unfortunately one of Owen’s classmates tested positive for COVID during the last week of school, meaning that all of Owen’s class had to self isolate for the start of the holidays. So it was just Henry and I that made the trip to Cannock.
Knowing that we would end up at the water splash, and remembering the photo I took of Owen at a Little Rippers ride in 2019, I dressed Henry in the same yellow shorts and Little Rider Co jersey, with the aim of recreating the photo. Whilst Henry is a better rider than Owen was at his age, Henry is not as keen as Owen was. He has learned that bike rides mean sweets, so was constantly pestering me for snacks. Then at the first uphill section, he asked for a lift on the Mac Ride on my bike. To be fair, he was the youngest rider there and was not able to keep up with the other children.
When we got to the water splash, he remembered our previous visit, and asked for his sunglasses, as his face got wet last time. He also asked me to ride through slowly. After riding through on my bike, I removed Henry’s Strider from my rucksack and tried to coax him to ride through himself. Eventually, the combination of all the other children having fun riding through the water and seeing the photo of Owen on my phone convinced him to ride into the water – I quickly followed him in and snapped a few photos before Henry realised that he did not like wet shoes!
From the water splash, we rode back to the van, swapped to clean shoes and went to the playground. After riding together, it is always lovely to see the children playing together nicely with their new friends. Without Owen and Jen, it was not the ride that I was expecting, but Henry and I still had a good time, and I managed to get the photo I had been planning!
I had booked last week off work to coincide with the second week of Owen’s school Easter holidays. The idea had been to decorate the boys’ bedroom, but Jen and I got that finished by Monday afternoon, which left the rest of the week for bike adventures.
British Cycling Skills Training
I had seen on Twitter that British Cycling were running bike skills courses in Coventry for children aged four and over who are already confident on pedal bikes. This sounded ideal for Owen – especially as he has not had any coaching since he tried cycle speedway last year. I also let Owen’s friend’s parents know so that Owen would have a friend there – as the only thing better than riding bikes is riding bikes with your friends!
The skills training was very basic – riding around a basketball court – but it was good for Owen to have reminders about things like checking the bike over before a ride and starting to pedal with your strongest foot, rather than scooting. He did really well at taking his hands off the handlebars (one at a time) – something which we had been practising unsuccessfully previously. Owen was already good at picking lines – you have to be when you ride off-road on a rigid bike with small wheels, so he did well on the line choice drills, which were avoiding an increasing number of “hedgehogs” (cones) on the track. The final activity was “bike limbo”, which Owen had another advantage for, being the smallest rider there.
After the training, Owen and his friend were able to have a ride around the park together – first stopping at the skate park, where Owen did not hesitate to get stuck in with the teenagers on skateboards. At one point he rode over a ramp and shouted out “that was sick!”. Owen’s friend was a bit nervous about going onto the skatepark, but seeing Owen encouraged him and he managed to conquer the ramp too. After the skate park, the boys went to the playground, where it was Owen’s turn to be encouraged to climb things that he would usually be nervous to go up – it was great seeing the boys playing together, as that is something that has been missed with all of the lockdowns, and we do not really know what Owen gets up to at school. We finished the trip off with a stop at the ice cream van. It was mad to think that the previous day Owen had woken up to snow at my parents’ house and there we were in the park, wearing T-shirts and eating ice cream! As I was not riding I was able to take my camera – which really has not had enough use in 2021.
Snibston Colliery Country Park
With Henry at nursery all day, Wednesday had been planned as the big day out on the bikes. I had heard about a new blue graded mountain bike trail at Snibston Colliery Country Park in North Leicestershire, so we decided to try it out. A bonus of travelling across the border to Leicestershire was that their school holidays had already finished, so it was quiet and we were able to park the van right next to the pumptrack.
After a few laps of the pump track we decided to explore the trail. It has quite a clever layout with two short loops that can be ridden near to the car park, or a much longer loop incorporating the shorter ones at the beginning and end. At the split between the two shorter loops, there is also a skills training area, which was our first stop.
The skills area was split into three graded sections, the easiest section was very basic, with two berms and a roller – it was even more basic than the pump track. We rode this for completeness before moving on to the middle graded section – which was perfect for Owen, with a few small drops followed by either a skinny or a small rock garden. We did quite a few laps of this before I heard the unmistakable sound of parts falling off my bike as I landed one of the drops. The right brake lever squeezing straight to the bar was a good indicator that I had a problem with my front brake, which was confirmed when I looked back up the trail and spotted my brake pads. However, I could not find the split pin which was meant to keep the pads in the brake. I have always hated the split pin design that Shimano use on their cheaper brakes and my fears were realised, I had not bent the pin sufficiently when working on my brakes the previous evening – I will be replacing the brakes on my hardtail with higher-end parts, once the current bike parts shortage is over. With no pin, I was able to bodge a repair with a small twig, but I was not confident that the fix would last, nor was I confident that I should be using my front brake. Owen carried on sessioning the skills area, including the hard graded section, which had some big jumps.
With the full loop out of the question, I asked Owen which of the shorter loops he wanted to ride back to the van – he chose based on which one had the most “skull and crossbones on the map” – i.e. technical trail features. This chosen section of trail was also the finisher for the full loop, so I was expecting good things. We were not disappointed! The trail made the most of the limited elevation, twisting left and right, swooping up and down. Possibly right at the top of the blue grading scale. Owen coped well, only needing to push up a few of the steeper uphill sections, where he had failed to carry enough speed into them because he had stopped to check bits out before rolling into them. On a trail with so many elevation changes, it was hard to see what was coming next when you are so low to the ground. It was good to see that the mental side of Owen’s mountain biking skills is matching up to his physical bike skills.
My brake bodge had held up, so we went round to complete the easier of the two short loops back to the van. Then Owen did a few more laps of the pump track and had a good play on the playground. On a related note – it was good to see that in the “digging area” they had decided to use pea gravel, rather than sand, it seemed just as fun to dig with, but did not get everywhere in Owen’s clothes and the van. On the way home I treated us to a McDinner – Owen must have worked up a hunger, because he finished his burger before me, which never happens!
We will definitely have to go back to Snibston Colliery Country Park to finish off the full loop of the blue trail. Possibly with Jen and Henry too, as it seems like a great place to visit with kids of all ages.
On Thursday Owen and I had arranged to ride with a small group of friends at Hicks Lodge – our favourite place to ride together. Owen rode so well – I had taken the TowWhee, but it was not needed, Owen pedalled around the blue graded trail himself. At a good speed too. It was only after our ride that it clicked due to the lockdown and poor winter weather, we had not ridden there for six months – but even so, it was great to see Owen’s progression.
It was especially good to meet up with some friends and ride together, I am sure that this spurred Owen on to ride so well. We cannot wait until restrictions are lifted and we can ride with bigger groups again.
Coombe Abbey
Since discovering that the hole in the wall kiosk at Coombe Abbey Country Park sells doughnuts, I had planned a ride with Jen and the boys from Brandon, through the woods and across the fields to Coombe Abbey, for some doughnuts and a play on the playground for the boys. With Jen and I off work, Owen on school holidays and Friday not being a nursery day for Henry it seemed like a good time to go.
It was an easy ride from Brandon, especially for Henry who was on the Mac Ride. It probably took us longer to drive to Brandon from home. Seeing the full car park at Coombe Abbey made me think we had made the correct decision to ride in. The boys were happy to get onto the playground and Jen and I could have some coffee and doughnuts. I had been a bit nervous about the ride back to the van, as it was all slightly uphill, but Owen took it in his stride.
Ready Steady Riders with Henry
On Saturday, it was Henry’s turn to ride – on his second trip to Ready Steady Riders. He obviously remembered it from his first trip because he started to get excited as soon as we pulled into the car park! He only needed a few laps with my support before he was off doing laps on his own. Towards the end of the session, the riders were taken over to ride on the “big track” – the championship spec BMX track that will host the Commonwealth Games BMX race. However, knowing that Henry was not yet up to it I let him stay on the smaller Strider track for some solo laps, which he seemed to enjoy.
Solo Ride
After five days of riding with the boys, I managed to get out for a solo ride – a blast around my favourite local loop. The best trail on this is a bridleway which you have to hit at the correct time of year, usually April, as in winter it is too muddy and by the summer it is too overgrown. Unfortunately I seemed to be a couple of weeks too early for the bluebells in the woods. Nevertheless, it was great to get out and enjoy the countryside on my Orange Four or a lovely spring morning!
Sherwood Pines
This is “bonus content”, as it actually happened the following weekend, but as it was such a good trip out I decided to include it anyway.
A few months ago I had agreed to buy Owen’s next bike second hand, from another member of the Little Rippers MTB Facebook group. The plan was that we would meet at a trail centre at a mutually convenient time, this was the reason for our trip to Sherwood Pines. The plan had been for Owen and I to ride the blue graded trail before the meeting the seller to collect the bike, but by the time we got to Sherwood Pines we only had an hour – I figured that we would just about have enough time to ride the ten kilometre route.
On the first singletrack section Owen caught up with the family in front of us, managing to sneak past them before the second section – a newly built flow trail. Owen rode this bit so well, keeping his speed and picking good lines. I would have loved to have stopped for some photos, but was conscious of the time. After this there were a few climbs, which Owen was always going to struggle with on his sixteen inch wheeled, singlespeed bike. And some idiot had forgotten to bring the tow rope. We ended up needing to push a few sections, but there was no moaning (from either of us!) and Owen was often straight back on his bike as soon as the gradient leveled off. The ride. continued in this vein, with Owen riding confidently on a trail which is rougher than he is used to. It was only in the final kilometre that I could tell he was starting to flag a bit. We were only a fraction over the hour completing the loop, which I was pleased with.
After collecting Owen’s new (to him) bike, which I am sure will be appearing in a blog post soon (after a service and some small changes to personalise the bike for Owen), we went to the skills loop, which Owen enjoys riding. It is less than 100 metres long, so I can leave Owen to ride laps on his own, which I know he enjoys. I was following him, on probably his twentieth lap, when all of a sudden he hit a jump at a funny angle and flew over his handlebars. Fortuantely, unlike at 417 Bike Park last year, he was unscathed, but it was a good point for us to end our ride and head to Ikea to pick up the last few bits needed for Henry’s new bed.
Riding with Owen so much over the last few weeks, I have really noticed a progression in his riding – he is more than ready to make the next step up in bikes. Having gears, better brakes and bigger wheels will open up more trails for him and allow his riding to progress to the next level. And as for Henry, his riding is also progressing rapidly – he has only really been riding his balance bike since his second birthday, less than two months ago, and he is already super confident – I fear that he may be riding a pedal bike before the year is out!
With the lockdown starting to ease, kids’ sports clubs are allowed to start up again, which means Ready Steady Riders, the balance bike club we used to take Owen to, started up again this weekend. As Henry is getting more and more confident on his balance bike I decided to take him.
It felt good to be back at the track – I had not been since 2019, when Owen still rode a balance bike. However to Henry it was all new – he had been before, but only as a tiny baby, watching Owen. Kazzi the coach was excited to see him, but Henry is going through a phase of being wary of strangers – maybe an effect of the lockdown… Seeing all of the other children on their balance bikes was good for Henry, he was keen to get onto the track. I set him off from the start gate – he went down the hill and SPLAT! Fortunately he was wearing his new Tigo Bikes pads and after a little cry at the shock, he got straight back on his bike and was smiling by the start of the second straight.
After the first lap he wanted to get straight back on, albeit avoiding the start hill. With each subsequent lap he was getting more and more confident. By the end of the session he was freewheeling down the small hills and back up the other side of the ramps unaided. With the aid of Jelly Baby bribes I also managed to get him to do a full lap, including the start hill that had caught him out at the start of the session. Jen and Owen had been watching intermittently, whilst running/riding around the park, but when Henry saw that they had gone back to the van, he stopped mid lap and asked to go back too.
He had done so well, 45 minutes of constant laps, progressing each time and clearly enjoying himself. Whilst writing this post I looked back at what I wrote for Owen’s first trip to Ready Steady Riders. Henry is about two months older than Owen was, and in some ways seems more mature for it. There were no tantrums, however he was not as keen as Owen to show off to the coaches, despite being a stronger rider.
From the BMX track, we all went to Kingsbury Water Park for a van picnic with our friends Ali and Jane. I had not seen Ali since my birthday bike ride back in December, so it was good to catch up. Henry did some more riding on his balance bike and also tried to ride Owen’s bike, despite not being able to reach the pedals. He must have been feeling confident after his session on the balance bike track! Hopefully as we continue to go to Ready Steady Riders, Henry’s confidence, both on and off the bike, will grow like Owen’s did.
Following on from Owen’s bike check post, and wanting to build his confidence on the bike, I put his bike in the boot of the car when we went for our usual Friday afternoon trip to the park. When we got to the park he was excited to put his helmet on and got on his bike, excited for the 100m ride from the car park to the playground. However we didn’t get out of the car park, before Owen gave up. He then seemed annoyed at me having to carry the bike all the way to the playground. After a fun session on the swings, slide and roundabout, Owen was again keen to get back on his bike – but this time rode it all the way back to the car park! I was so proud of him, as this was much further than he’d been on his bike before. Owen seemed pleased with himself too, as when he got home he got straight back on his bike to show off to Jen!
The next morning, Jen had a Eurovision party to prepare for, so based on the previous afternoons’ success I decided to take Owen to Ready Steady Riders, which is a Strider balance bike coaching session, on a special mini BMX track, next to the Perry Barr BMX track in Birmingham. Owen had a bit of a tantrum when we got there, as I wouldn’t let him ride his bike in the busy car park, but he really didn’t want to walk! After carrying both Owen and his bike to the safety of the park, I let him set off again on his bike. It was about 200m to the gate for the BMX and Owen made it most of the way, only needing to be carried for the last section. However, when he saw that there were other little boys there on their bikes, he was straight back on his!
The Strider track was awesome, a starting gate, four straights with bumps and jumps, connected with three big berms finishing off with a little banked chicane. Owen was so excited when he saw it, joining the track at the nearest place! Owen’s legs weren’t quite strong enough to get him up the bumps on the straights, so I needed to give him a helping hand, and also occasionally catch him on the down slopes, but even on this first lap his riding improved from beginning to end, he was getting more confident and obviously enjoying himself. At the end of the lap he was keen to get back for another one, this time tackling the berms on his own and using his feet to brake. We did a few more laps like this, Owen was the slowest rider there, but then 24 hours previously he’d only ever ridden the length of our garden! Kazzi, the coach, took over helping Owen round for a lap, which he seemed to respond well to. By this point he was really enjoying himself, making “wheeee!” sounds down all the slopes and carrying a bit more speed.
I could tell that all the excitement was starting to tire Owen out, he gets very stubborn when he is tired, and it was about his usual nap time, however we still had more of the session to run. About this time Owen started to take an interest in the start gate, the faster kids were using this for the start of their runs and Owen thought it looked fun. So we climbed up the hill and Owen took his place, for the start. 3, 2, 1, go! The riders surged forward towards the first hump on the track. Owen didn’t want to go over the hump to start the lap, he wanted to go back to the gate to do more starts. After a few of these, he decided that the bike was an inconvenience. Kazzi knew straight away how to sort this, asking Owen if he wanted to try her daughter’s bike – which worked for half a lap!
After a few more starts, and falls on his own bike, Owen decided that he was going to have a go at climbing the first hump on his own, getting upset at my offers of assistance, but even more upset that he couldn’t do it. After screaming at the hump, and at me, he decided to ask for his cot! Easier said than done when you are in the middle of a park! Getting a tired and grumpy Owen back to the car, along with his bike and safety gear wasn’t an easy task. Every few metres he wanted to be carried/to walk/to go on his bike or to have his helmet or kneepads taken off or put back on – all classic signs of a tired Owen. When we eventually got back to the car, Owen did his usual trick of demanding to “drive” (to sit in the drivers seat), which was handy for keeping him occupied whilst I loaded the car. When I got him into his seat in the back he was asleep within minutes, barely waking up when we got home and Jen transferred him into his cot. I’ll definitely be taking him to Ready Steady Riders again, hopefully before the race he’s been entered in next month.
On the Sunday, Owen wanted to play in the lane behind our house, jumping in puddles – that bloody Peppa Pig has a lot to answer for… Unlike Daddy Pig, I’m not a fan of puddles, especially in my new Danny Macaskill Five Ten shoes, so I decided to get my bike out and practice some skills whilst Owen splashed around. Seeing my bike made Owen want his bike, so I got it out, got his helmet on and we went on our first bike ride together! It was only up the lane behind our house, but it was a good little adventure, we met some friendly dogs and explored the top section of the lane which is a dead end. Owen fell off his bike whilst turning round at the top, and couldn’t be persuaded back onto the bike, so I ended up carrying/pushing the bikes back to the house – I’m sure Owen will learn soon enough that the downhill bits are the fun bits and I’ll be pushing/carrying the bikes up the climbs!
I’m so proud of the progress that Owen has made on his bike this weekend and the fact that he now seems to be enjoying his balance bike, rather than being scared of it. The photo at the top of this post has even made it onto the lock screen on my iPhone, as seeing Owen enjoying his bike is one of the best feelings!
