Luke has struggled with vestibular sense issues (your feeling of your place in space) all of his life. He had occupational therapy as a little boy to work out some of the bigger problems--like feeling comfortable sitting in a chair when his feet didn't touch the floor, discovering that a ride on Daddy's shoulders was not a terrifying act of death defiance, but just plain old fun, and learning that climbing on the playground was actually something enjoyable to do and not so scary after all--so we don't see the issues come up in everyday life very often. However, the balance and body-awareness required to ride a bike was a big hurdle. Add to that his sensory anxiety of getting hurt, and bike riding felt like a huge obstacle.
We've tried to get him on a bike for a handful of years, and especially pushed it a couple of years ago when Tommy learned, but something that seems so simple, a childhood rite of passage, was just out of reach. Eventually he convinced himself that he didn't even want to learn to ride. But this summer was different somehow. The ride on the tandem attachment on the rental when we rode Vail Pass was possibly the best thing for him. It let him connect to the feeling of balance he needed, that leaning was OK, and helped him discover the rhythm of pedaling to keep himself going. Soon after that ride, Luke decided that he was determined to learn to ride. He struggled, tried, cried, quit, but then he kept coming back and trying again. And then he did it. HE DID IT! He didn't give up on himself, and he did it. Hooray for you, Luke! You can do hard things and you can conquer your fears.
As I am typing this 6 weeks after his first solo ride, for Luke it has been The Summer of the Bike. All he wants to do is ride. He rides with brothers. He especially rides often with Tommy. He rides with his friends. And I love that now he can. "Why don't you go out and ride your bike?" "OK!"
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