As a dad and bike enthusiast, my kids were highly motivated (mostly by me) to move to the next level of bicycling, graduating early from training wheels (5 and not quite 4). There are a few sources that suggest one or another method, but I have now successfully shed training wheels from 4 or 5 kids’ (fortunately not all mine) bikes with a minimum of fear and skinned knees. I hear the question from time to time, and Santa is on his way pretty soon, so I thought more might be interested in this little how-to on going from training wheels to two wheels.

Step one, wobble your training wheels:
Once your child gets some comfort riding with training wheels, move them up so there is a little wobble back and forth, then maybe a little more. Wait another few days and then you will be ready for the no training wheels try.

Next, push and glide:
First, take the training wheels and pedals off your child’s bike. Lower the seat so they can comfortably put their feet on the ground while sitting on the seat. Give them a few minutes to push the bike around with their feet. Tell them to pick up speed and then pick up their feet and glide. Once they can push and glide for 5 seconds or so, you’re ready to put the pedals back.

Third, add pedals:
Reinstall the pedals and with the seat still low, hold the back of their seat and give them a solid, single push (no need to run) and make sure they know to start pedaling. With the low seat, they will be ready to put a foot down if needed. Now they are on two wheels!

The final step: self starting. Once your child has made a few passes with a quick push from you, they may be ready to try to start on their own. It’s second nature to you, but no so for them. Tell them to put one “power pedal up” in the 1-2 o’clock position, kick with the other foot and start pedaling, or for an easy way for them to remember: “Power pedal up, one kick and go!”

Some final notes. Some advise the push bike (a bike without cranks, pedals, etc) a marketer’s invention to speed the transition from tricycle to bicycle. I agree with the late great Sheldon Brown (whose more detailed article on this subject is available at the Harris Cyclery website here) that the push bike (like-a-bike, others) is a dead end in that once kids know how to glide, they are ready for pedals again, so you might as well just take the pedals off a fully functional bike so you will be ready for that time.

Also, you are probably aware that kids under 16 are required by Georgia law to wear helmets. Please be sure your kids put a lid on. Happy cycling!

We hope everyone had as much fun riding as we did putting on the ride today. Some good press from WTOC, and some photos on SMN Spotted in addition to our own in this slideshow…

Thanks again to the City of Tybee, in particular City Manager Diane Schleicher, Mayor Jason Buelterman, and City Councilman Paul Wolff for their help in organizing the ride, Fat Tire Bikes for bringing bikes back to Tybee, Savannah Outriders for sponsoring the rest stop, and All Points Cafe for the coffee at the start!

We should also relate an interesting story from the ride: the mayor got two flat tires while on the Tybee section of the ride. Running back to his house to borrow another bike, he fell behind and lost the escort. He pressed on and faced the hair raising danger of the Lazaretto Creek Bridge without the cocoon of safety the police provided all of the other riders. How is that for raising awareness?

We raised a small amount of money today for the Coastal Georgia Greenway’s efforts to build trails in coastal Georgia. If you believe strongly in the call for safety and economic development that bringing a trail connecting Savannah with Tybee would provide, please support their mission and consider becoming a member.

Get on your bikes and ride!

It’s a huge weekend for the bike people. Starting bright and early tomorrow, Friday Nov 6 (did you forget?) is 2Wheels 2Work — join us at the Habersham Village start at 7:30am, at the Johnson Square finish or anywhere along the route (mostly Habersham and Lincoln) for the monthly commute with Jittery Joe’s coffee and some yummy breakfast treats.

Then, Saturday night join the geeks at Geekend Block Party at SEED Eco Lounge at Montgomery and Broughton. Our own Minister of Foolishness, David Acuff, and his band of bike minions will be operating the bike powered blender to mix drinks for you. Your donations are, of course, welcome.

Finally, don’t miss out on the first Tybee-Savannah Trailblazers’ Ride Sunday morning at 9am.  Just a few spaces left until we reach our cap of 150 riders, so be sure to head on over to active.com and register now!  We’ll finish at Johnson Square for a celebration of the East Coast Greenway Alliance’s national meeting in Savannah, so catch us there if you miss the ride!

Hello all!  Good news on many fronts:

1. The MPO’s Long Range Transportation Plan framework was adopted last Thursday including Complete Streets recommendations and a promise to devote $98 million to nonmotorized transportation over 20 years. That’s big, y’all!  It’s also a testament to the work done by our members and supporters at all the public meetings — thank you all.
2. The Midnight Garden Ride was a huge success as many of you can attest.  Thanks to all who joined in the fun — check out the ride gallery posted to midnightgardenride.com.
3. Our education program is moving forward with a Traffic Skills class for the SCAD bike club coming in the next few weeks.

Hot on the heels of all of this, we’re planning another ride — the Tybee to Savannah Trailblazers’ Ride! Often when people start to talk about bicycle facilities in Chatham County, the discussion migrates to the unridabiliy of US-80 between Savannah and Tybee, with 2 narrow bridges and rumble strips filling the shoulders between the Bull River and Lazaretto Creek:  see previous posts here and here. We’re in full agreement that something needs to be done, so we thought a ride is in order to kick things off. With the aid of the Tybee and Savannah/Chatham County police for protection, we will ride with the first 150 registrants from Tybee to Savannah on Sunday Nov 8 at 9am. We have a page devoted to it on bicyclecampaign.org, and registration is now open at active.com.

Don’t be left out — join in this fun and important ride for the future of cycling in Chatham County.

It wouldn’t be fall without a mini media blitz from the Campaign.

We were thrilled to see Bill Dawers’ City Talk column this past Sunday in which he praised the Midnight Garden Ride and mused on why folks don’t ride at night more often in Savannah: “The streets belong to all of us — that’s true both day and night. The more citizens on the streets, the safer they become.”  So true.

We were also pleased to see his support, like ours, for improvements in the draft Long Range Transportation Plan slated for adoption this Thursday at the CORE MPO meeting (10am, 112 E State St), in particular the promise of Complete Streets provisions during the next phase of the plan.

September brings college back to Savannah at SCAD, Savannah State, and Armstrong, and we were fortunate to have the opportunity to address that large mass of bike users of widely varying abilities with a column in Connect Savannah’s college issue this week. It gives some good (of course they’re good, we wrote them!) tips for anyone getting started on a bike in Savannah including basics on driving your bike and general information on preferred routes, so please check it out online or in the print edition.

Thank you to board members Ben Allen and Eric Breen and former board member Paul Razza for their excellent work on this motorist focused PSA, released today in the 2Wheels 2Work press conference with Mayor Johnson. We are very excited to have the help of the city as well, and through their generosity will be showing this piece on local cable stations across the dial. Thanks also to our talent: Rob Gibson of the Savannnah Music Festival, local cyclists Kristine Gum and Mike Grabowski, and our own board secretary David Acuff for putting themselves out there, and also to Paul for subjecting himself to unwanted mullet syndrome for the cause.

The goal was to drive home points but keep it from being preachy, all the while pointing out that those people you see on bikes from your car could be your neighbor or co-worker. Hopefully this will make a dent in the excessively high number of car vs. bike crashes in Chatham County.

Watch. Enjoy. Share.

From the press in Connect Savannah and Savannah Morning News this week, we have been getting lots of questions about how late registration will work. All the info is at midnightgardenride.com (sorry Safari and Chrome browser users, a bug in our theme makes the whole site black. Try it in Internet Explorer or Firefox!), but it’s also here if you want to take a look:

Ride weekend regisration is available for $25,

• 6-9pm on Friday, September 4 at Bicycle Link at 408 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, Savannah, GA 31401 and
• 8-9am on Saturday, September 5 at the Savannah Century ride start in Ellabell and
• 6-7:30pm at the Distillery on Saturday, September 5.

Current SBC members will still receive the reduced $15 price at late registration.

We’ll see you Saturday for the Midnight Garden Ride!

You’ve seen other people doing it on your  drive to work. You’ve wondered what it would be like. You’ve pondered trying it yourself. Maybe you just need a little company and encouragement to get started.

Well, we’ve been there and we can show you the way. If you’re ready to have fun, save money and enjoy the health benefits of bicycle commuting, ride along with us on Friday, Sept. 4.

At 7:30 a.m. (returning participants, please note the earlier departure time)  the Savannah Bicycle Campaign’s monthly bicycle commuting convoy will get rolling from the Habersham Village Shopping Center. This month’s 2 Wheels 2 Work destination is Johnson Square, where participants will enjoy fresh coffee from the bike-friendly folks at Jittery Joe’s and tasty eats from the Blue Goose Cafe, new bicycling public service announcements will be debuted and local officials will talk about the positive impact bicycle commuting can have public safety, public health and public life.

Whether you’ve never ridden your bike to work — or you ride every day — please join us in this causally paced ride and stay for the festivities that follow. As always, helmets are strongly encouraged. In the event of heavy rain, the ride will be postponed until Sept. 11.

Last minute warning: set your DVR (or go to wtoctv.com later today) to check out David Acuff and Drew Wade’s appearance on WTOC’s Mid Morning Live with Sonny and Jody today at 10am. We’ll post the interview here later today. We’ll be talking about what the Campaign is up to, and promoting the Midnight Garden Ride on September 5!