On a bicycle now built for two....

Saturday morning, Amanda's tandem bike attachment arrived!!!  She was very excited and ran out to see the Fedex man.

That afternoon, Daddy put the bike together.

Watching Daddy read the instructions

And they were off for a brief test ride.  She was very nervous.

She did not pedal at all.  Just hung on for dear life!  But they went around the block.

Not so keen on the hill and turn.

But it was a successful test. 

And Sunday, late morning, we arrived at Rocky Point Walking Path.



Getting set to go.....

 And then they were off.  She yelled at him all the way down to stop.  He would stop and allow her to settle and then start off again....This repeated a few times until he just kept going.

She hung on tightly, very nervous until they went around one corner and I heard "WHEEEEEEEEE" from an excited little girl.

Tessa and I followed until we caught up with them.  Rode until the end and turned around.

Her bike gathered lots of attention from walkers and fellow bike riders.

Stopping to show off the bike

Starting back again

On the ride back, I rode behind them and coaxed Amanda to start pedaling.  She needed to be reminded to switch legs.  First she was just moving her legs forward and back.  So I rode behind yelling "LEFT! RIGHT! LEFT! RIGHT!!" until she remembered what to do.  Then I just told her what a great job she was doing.

Craig offered to stop and let her play at the beach and she did not want to stop.  So we raced up the hill to the start.

All in all, it was a great first bike ride as a family.  She knew she was safe.  Hills are still not her favorite.  We have to get another hitch attachment for my bike and remove the basket holder so it can fit.  But for now, she is comfortable behind Daddy.  Amanda will be able to learn to deal with the sensory input of riding a bike and learn to control her balance.

So, for your littles, who for whatever reason, cannot ride unassisted, this is a great alternative.  You know they will be safe and able to keep up with the family. 

Bike riding with Autism

Tessa learned to ride her bike without training wheels last fall.  She has been wanting to go bike riding with both Craig and I for ages.  Now that the warm weather has come and both Mommy and Daddy have new bikes, the poor girl is so excited to go.

Amanda, on the other hand, cannot ride a bike unassisted.  Even with training wheels.  She is distracted by the world.  The multiple sensory inputs of the wind in her face, sun in her eyes, having to pedal the bike, steer the bike all while trying to pay attention to where she is going and the world around her.

We toyed with a few ideas.  One was a tricycle but finding a tricycle in her size is difficult without spending a great deal of money.  The adaptive tricycles are extremely cost-prohibitive.

I scoured Amazon.com and came across this:

Bike USA Junior Stabilizer Wheel Kit

Those wheels attach to a 20'' BMX Bike Frame.  I started doing research on the type of bike.  Went to lots of bike stores looking at bikes to see which ones could have this attached and still be a pretty princess bike for our Ms Panda.  Asked many associates on their thoughts.  Showed it to Amanda to get her opinion.  I thought it was a great option.

Last Saturday, we took turns trying Amanda on Tessa's old bike with the regular training wheels.  She was so anxious and scared.  We both were cramped and sore from holding onto the bike, hunched over.  Reminding her to pedal.  Trying to get her to steer.  Watching her as she watched her shadow on the ground.  I realized that this was going to be too much for her right now.

But we are not ready to leave her behind.  And her sister needs to bike with both parents too.  And she is too big to ride in those trailer attachments or seats.

So back to research mode.  And I found this:


Tandem Bike Attachment

 The attachment will fit both Craig's mountain bike and my hybrid.  She has the option of either pedalling or not.   She just needs to sit and hold on.  This way, she can join us biking and slowly gain her confidence and learn to deal with all the sensory inputs of bike riding.

I bought it last night and paid 9.00 to have it shipped for Saturday delivery.  Will post pictures and let you know how it worked out.