Defying Gravity…
Image Credit:Kishan Sinchuari
Age 4 | JK (Junior Kindergarten)
Another memory that sticks out in my mind (and makes me smile every time I think of it) was my son’s inability to adjust his body to sloping sidewalks while riding his bike. Pierce just never adjusted his body at all. It definitely didn’t help that city sidewalks were not designed for beginner bike riders. Void of long stretches of straightaways, they were peppered with pebbles, erratic branches, and an overwhelming numbers of curb cuts (where the sidewalk dipped) for driveways.
These little sloped obstacles of doom provided endless moments of laughter for me. My little boy never quite adjusted his body (or bike) to them as one would expect. Regardless, when he actually rode it, Pierce always rode his bike like a tiny superhero on four wheels.
“He would ride his bike like he was in a gravity defying video game”
Most children who encountered these curb cuts, or terrain changes, would normally adapt and make the corrections needed to right themselves (and their bike ) to remain vertical to the ground - completely upright. Not my son. That was never the case. Pierce would ride his bike like he was in a gravity defying video game - like the bike was on tracks. Full-speed, care-free, and oblivious to any slope. He would ride seated on his bike at a 45 degree angle (sometimes more), trying to break all the laws of physics. Fortunately, My husband was always there to keep him from falling (bracing him) while he crookedly rode his bike (and body) on a slant, until the sidewalk flattened out, and he would continue on…happy and blissfully unaware.
Image Credit: 2 Photo Pots
Notice the riders in the front two rows and how they try and compensate to stay in the coaster car. The Lady in the back (wearing white, with her hair down) demonstrates perfectly how Pierce rode his bike when there was a dip/ angle in the sidewalk.