Our fearless 7 year old has always been hesitant to try new things. She is usually a little tentative, and cautious when there is something she is unsure of or new. As outgoing and boisterous as she is, it is sort of charming to see that innocence and cautiousness that sometimes emerges. When we signed her up for swim lessons, she wouldn't jump into the pool. We told her that by the end of the lessons she'd be begging for us to throw her off the dock at the cabin...still she wasn't convinced. So with a little bribery (McDonald's for lunch) she did jump and by the end of the summer Michael was throwing her in to the lake!! The same story goes with learning to snow ski, and today, she can't wait for February when we hit the slopes!!
As you can imagine, it has been a process to get her to ride a 2 wheeler. She's been cautious since the beginning, and with more bribery (which seems to be the best secret weapon in a parent's arsenal!!) we got her to ride a 2 wheeler!! Yay!! It has been a long time coming, but now she can't wait to get on the bike. So last week, we headed to a bike path in the area where we could all ride together, however, getting 3 people and 3 bikes there was a little bit nuts in our SUV even, so we decided a bike rack was in order. Today we headed to good ol' Wal-Mart and picked up a rack we can strap onto the back of either car...so great!! And off we went onto a new adventure!!
Here's the rack...see bottom of post for my opinion of the product!!
The car, with the bikes!!
From the back...we're ready to go!!
On the road...see the bottom again for my opinion of this bike riding spot!!
The Bike Rack--It is a Bell Bike Rack...no problems with Bell, but it is a 2 person job to set up and get on the car...you could do it alone, but it is much easier with 2. As you can see we also went a little off-roading (nothing too extreme...something the Acura can handle) and the bike rack didn't hold up as well as we would have liked. With the hopes of taking bikes to the cabin, it made us question if it would hold up to a 250 mile car ride. The outside straps, furthest from the car, were probably bounced a little too much, and the rubber broke, therefore making it unusable. It seems to Michael and I that a 3 bike rack, seems to be better suited for 2 bikes. So to avoid having the bikes in the car, it defeats the purpose. We will return the broken rack, and get a 2 bike rack, to see if that works better. Finger's crossed!!
The Biking Location--We decided to go to a place that is very near our house, where we have gone hiking a few times. Michael and I have mountain bikes, and in our heads it seemed like a good place to go. It is relatively flat and not too difficult, but it retrospect it proved to be a little too "dippy" and "hilly" for a beginner. We then headed to a flat, paved road and will hit the trail when we have no problem bouncing!!
You might want to try etrailer.com. They're fairly durable, especially if you're going to be doing some off-roading. Check out the Swagman.
ReplyDeleteWe have bikes too so we should go together sometime :)