Um excuse me, but how cute is this?
Abby is a tad small for bike riding at this juncture in her career, but you can bet the second she gets some wheels, this is going on the front. No white-plastic-with-sad-little-fake-daisy business here!
The lovely Joyce at Tot Hot or Not just happens to have a SUPER-COOL online bicycle clothing and accessories store called Cycle Style, and she asked if my readers might like one of these. I hesitated about one-eighth of a second before I said yes! You DO want one, don't you?!
Of course you do. They're hand crafted from natural materials. They're cute. It can be carried just like a regular basket for collecting serious kid things. If you don't win one, they're only $39 to buy. They will make you happpeeeeeeee.
All you have to do is leave a comment telling us about the first time you rode your bike without training wheels. Do you remember? I do! I have a very clear memory of getting on my Strawberry Shortcake bike, riding down the driveway and being SO excited. I looked up to show off to my parents, only to find neither of them watching. Mum was in the kitchen and dad was in his workshop. Story of my life!
Anyhow, the tale we like the most wins. It can be funny, it can be sweet, it can be a limerick, it can be a pictorial. Whatever you like. Whatever we like.
Competition closes next Friday, July 6 at 5pm. Australian residents only, please (sorry). Please make sure your entry allows you to be contacted somehow. Any questions, please ask!
And while you're doing that, I'm going to lust after this riding cape, and this wine holder, and this amazing pink-and-white-skull helmet. And possibly this orange floral pannier, even though it would clash with my pink bike. BBL.
Joyce was kind enough to send Abby a basket to say thanks for running the giveaway. She's a good egg like that.
Cycle Style is on Facebook here and Twitter here. Go stalk!
Omg. That is way cute. I remember so clearly getting a brand new bike as I'd finally nailed riding my brothers and it was just on my birthday. Dad sent me out to the garage to grab something and there was my lilac bday surprise. I was beyond excited and grabbed it, kicked the stand to release it. Got caught up in the stand. Toppled over and was pinned to the cement leg caught and bike on top of me!!!!!!!! Only I could be so lame. Meanwhile parents and brother assumed I was out riding so search party wasn't dispatched for a good half hour. Discovered a v sad bday girl still mangled. Never lived it down w big brother who laughed so hard he choked. Served him right!!!!! Dad took stand off bike as I coukdnt be trusted!!!! We used to cut up colored straws and stick them on our spokes. Tres rad!!!!
ReplyDeleteI never actually had training wheels! I lived in the delirious world where girls didn't have bikes. So, I didn't have a bike given to me until I was 14! No trike, no scooter, no 3wheeler, ever! So at 14 i was hobbling around my parents' back pergola, trying to grasp a handle (literally) of this concept of balance. Didn't take too long, from memory but now, along with my 6 boys, my 3 year old DAUGHTER also has a couple of bikes :)
ReplyDeleteI can actually see my daughter riding a bike with her very own Toto in your basket :D
Thanks for the awesome giveaway.
My age pre-dates training wheels. We were given a bike and told to get on it. I remember a neighbourhood kid holding the back of my seat to steady me on the grass footpath I was practising on and then I was off .... literally.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous!
ReplyDeleteRiding without training wheels is one of the most vivid memories I have of my father who died when I was 14 (and I suck at early memories). We lived in NYC so like most kids there I learned to ride in a big parking lot. He was a big and tall guy and still he leaned over the back of my bike with my big banana seat as we went back and forth from one end of the lot to the other. His method (which worked previously with my sister) was to eventually just let go without telling you. Then he surprises you by walking slightly ahead to tell you that you were doing it all by yourself!! Suddenly I was flying and totally Ok with no one holding on.
I can remember my first hands free (as in my friend let go of the bike) very clearly. I didn't learn to ride until I was 10 - the youngest in the family I think they forget I didn't know how so the neighbour took pity on me - the bike was a bit too big but I finally got going across the neighbours yard. Round and round her dad's compost heap until I finally fell off and landed in the middle of it. Lots of bike incidents and accidents through school and even nearly getting myself killed on Christmas Day riding straight through an intersection on my new bike - without looking - screech of brakes and a mouthful of abuse from the terrified driver who just missed me (seems I had no knowledge of road rules whatsoever). I haven't owned a bike in years but have been thinking about it lately now i live in town again - and seeing all those cool retro looking bikes. The basket would be a must have of course.
ReplyDeleteKatie
I never had a bike with training wheels. I jumped right in on a big bike at about the age of 8 years & by big bike I mean my older grown up sisters.
ReplyDeleteI had to lean the bike against the fence, climb onto the fence & then clamber onto the bike. I could just reach the pedals with my toes. I would let the bike run down hill, because pedaling was out of the question.
I dinged the bike up some, because when it wobbled too much I would jump one way as the bike fell the other. I soon grew big enough to pedal, but even now I love the freedom of letting a bike run down hill fast.
I told my mum and dad(a little white lie) that I was able to ride my older brothers bike(I was about 6),so i got one for my birthday and of course didn't have a clue what to do.So my Dad ran up and down the street holding onto the back of the bike until the death wobbles left my arms.When he let go,I kept riding.He was clapping and cheering I turned around to see what all the noise was about,Paniced and crashed into the gutter.Gravel rash and tears mixed with my dads pride,that was my first time on my bike.Fun but OUCH!!
ReplyDeletewell... erm it may or may not have been late last year.... for some reason i thought that if i saved up all my birthday money and bought a rather expensive model that i would magically be able to master this art of bike riding, even in our country bumkin hilly little country town. coughs. yeah, worked really well... if i was going super fast, which is not recommended when you are going up hill to your little home and the path is all uneven and cracked and you are on the main road. but if i went any slower than super duper fast i got the death wobbles, and when its only your toes that can just touch the ground, well... you can imagine!
ReplyDeleteFrom what I can recall, I was about 7 when the training wheels came off. We had just moved house, and gotten a massively long driveway that took up the long side of our L shaped 1/4 acre block. At the time, the dog was on a chain runner and the driveway was a perfect place to learn to ride as the dog couldnt bowl us over with his chain! I always wanted a basket for my bike, but sadly never got one :(
ReplyDeleteWow...that website makes me want to buy a BIKE just to go with all the amazing accessories! Love it!!!
ReplyDeleteI remember my first solo trip when six,
ReplyDeleteOne old bike - no handle grips.
Brakes weren't good, didn't worry me,
I was off and fancy free.
Down that hill I flew at speed,
Til I sighted something I didn't need!
A large brick wall was in my way,
All I could do was hope and pray.
But I hit that wall with all my might
And on my tummy was an ugly sight.
The handlebar had left a perfect hole,
But I had achieved my solo goal!
Around and around the edges of our big backyard. Peddling away like crazy, chatting to Mum who I thought was behind me holding the back of my seat like usual........then I realised I was riding solo, and fell off in my confusion!
ReplyDeletePlaying at a friends house across the road, and her mean older cousins were there and they bent my training wheels up off the ground, into the air. And no matter how much might and strength I tried to muster I couldn't put them back down. And in a fit of teary rage, I did it. I rode home to dob on them :)
ReplyDeleteAt 25, I hadn't ridden a bike before,
ReplyDeleteso with great fear, I held my foot to the floor.
I pushed off from my driveway,
and rode for hours on that day.
Since that very first time,
I ride daily and I think it's sublime.
It was on the front driveway, each minute I lasted mum would give me a sip of coke to congratulate me :)
ReplyDeleteI was about 6 and I've since forgotten how to do it. *embarrassed*
ReplyDeleteNow my son is four and is about to transition to no training wheels and wants me to go riding with him. I guess I'd better "get back on my bike" so to speak.
I was at my grandad's place and Dad took off the wheels, I remember it feeling very surreal, like I was flying didn't fall off though and after that I was hooked :)
ReplyDeleteI remember vividly. I was out the front on my own, and very new to owning a bike without training wheels. I decided to be a dare devil and start at the top of the big hill in our street and ride down really fast. It ended at the bottom with me skidding across the road - teeth first - ooouch. Emergency trip to the dentist to remove front teeth. LOL good thing I can laugh about it now.
ReplyDeleteI remember everyone telling me not to look at the footpath and look forward.
ReplyDeleteSo I focused on our mailbox ahead until I crashed into it.
Im a bit sad, I cant remember my first bike ride without training wheels. But I do remember my sons. :D
ReplyDeleteWe tried so many times to take the training wheels off, but he either wouldn't let us, or fell off! When he was 7, he saw a second hand PeeWee 50 and he just had to have it. We reminded him that he couldn't ride a bike without trainers, and a motorbike would be much harder. But he insisted on a test ride. So on he hopped and with dad and I beside him running, he took off down the footpath! Ever since that day he never rode his bike with training wheels again! And yes he did get the PeeWee after that! ;)