Norah's First Biking Adventure

Norah's first biking adventure didn't turn out to be as much fun as we pictured it being. She loves riding in the backpack out in the woods and she loves the jogging stroller so naturally we just assumed she would love the like bike trailer that we were really excited about.

Oh no friends this was not the case!

We of course set out big for our first ride. Maybe some would have practiced before hitting the trail and riding far enough away from the car that there was no way you could walk back or drive the car to a friendly pick up spot. Oh no not us! We decide to go for it and assume it will be smooth.

So after about 10 minutes of playing with the helmet we finally get it on her head which she was not pleased about. And being the over-protective mom that I am I insist that she wear the helmet because the instructions on the bike trailer say how important this is. And because you never know what "could" happen....the white pine trail can be pretty dangerous you know...it's long and wide and pretty flat and we were going extrememly slow but you just never know, right?

So Norah does pretty good for a bit. Enough for us to get about 4 miles into the ride and then she loses it. Totally loses it. So at this point we've got 4 miles back to the car. There was no calming her--she was frustrated and only getting more and more so. So finally I agree that we can take her helmet off because it keeps falling over her eyes which is only making things worse. So we take it off and I'm riding along side my daughter feeling like a horrible parent and thinking that other people are wondering "why on earth don't those people have a helmet on their baby?"

But then we pass by another little bike trailer with 2 girls and neither have helmets! I must admit I felt some comfort in knowing we weren't the only bad parents out there! :)

In the end we made it back to the car after lots of tears (mostly Norah but I had a few myself!) and poor Randy just feeling awful about the whole experience and bummed about the bike trailer he was so excited to buy. And our poor friend Sunday who had joined us that evening for a "nice quiet leisurely" ride who had to be wondering what in the world just happened?

Not to mention the crazy road biker lady who was yelling at me and wanted to beat me up because I was riding a little to much in her space while I was trying to sing and soothe my screaming daughter. Adventure I tell you!

And wouldn't you know as soon I pulled her out of that little bike trailer those tears disappeared and life was good again. The arms of mama somehow comfort all the troubles of the world!