Daniel's first street ride!

Well, it was a beautiful evening when I got home from work today. Beth and the girls had plans for the evening, leaving me and Daniel to find something to do. Not long ago he had me check to see if his feet reached the foot pegs on my 1200 GS. That was my rule, no riding until the feet reach the pegs. Sarah has been riding with me for about a year and a half and it has been driving Daniel nuts that he hasn't been able to ride. Well... they reached...

Of course he wanted to go riding that instant. But, between work, rain, other time commitments, etc,... we just haven't been able to make it happen, until tonight. I got him to finish up some school work then popped it on him. He was so excited that he was geared up and ready to go before I even started getting the bike out of the garage and getting my own gear situated



We went over the rules of the ride to make sure he knew what I expected of him and what he could expect from me. With that, we were off! Just across FM 980 from our subdivision is another subdivision that has real smooth roads, some nice curves, and a lot of big culdesacs. That is where I took Sarah for her first ride so she could get used to the feel and motion of the bike at low speeds before hitting the faster roads. After doing tight turn arounds in all the culdesacs and some relatively fast (40mph) sweepers, we stopped. Daniel was having a blast and was ready for more! He had been doing a great job of keeping his body properly positioned and bracing himself for stops as I showed him.

So I decided to take him for a short ride on the FMs in the area. We ran up FM 980 to FM 3478, over to FM 230 and then into Trinity. When I was first learning to ride on the street back in 1999, those were the roads that I rode over and over until I felt really comfortable on the bike. They are usually low traffic, fun and sweeping, and have nice scenery. Today was just the same. We ran them around 70mph Daniel absolutely loved it. He had no fear whatsoever. We ran back down US 190 from Trinity to FM 980 at Riverside and then cruised back home, at total of about 43 miles.

He was barely off the bike before he was asking when we could go riding again He asked me quite a few times the remainder of the evening... I may have created a monster!

That just makes me smile....


.

Great story!
Both of you have fun

Truly awesome, I can't wait till my boy's feet reach. Thanks for sharing!!

What a fantastic moment! I'm waiting for my small 5 y.o. daughter to get to that stage. I can only hope she's half as excited as I am. To speed it up, I bought some Ilium Works adjustable passenger platforms for my K1600 that raise the pegs by 4-5 inches.

Wasn't he just born yesterday?! Time flies...

Personally, even if the feet reach the pegs before the kid is about 8 years old, I would be reluctant for them to ride with me at an earlier age. There just seems to be a big leap in situational awareness between a kid say 6-7 and one that is maybe 7-8, depending on the individual kid. Also, Daniel has been riding dirt bikes since he turned 5. He is now about 8-1/2. He likes speed and the sensations that go along with it, except for the crashing part... Sarah has been riding dirt bikes since she was 7. She is not as enthusiastic about speed and its sensations. She's more concerned about getting hurt. So for her, learning to ride with me on the street was a little slower so she could get used to things and squash down some inherent fears. She's 10 now and has been riding with me since she was 8ish... Both of them took very seriously the notion that if they did not listen to what I told them about what to do when riding on the street bike the potential for serious bodily harm was VERY real. Younger kids might have a more difficult time truly appreciating that reality and letting it control their behavior when on the bike. Of course, it really depends on the individual kids.

Good times!!

This reminds me of when I got the CX500. It showed up on Thursday evening and Friday I was out riding it around. My son (6 at the time) wanted a ride and since we had a helmet for him I put him in front of me and we went around the block. The next morning I woke up to him standing over me in bed, helmet on, asking if we could ride the motorcycle. Who could say "no" to that! Since then, he has been hooked!

He rides pillion now. There was a period of time between then and now where he was too big to be in front and too small to ride pillion. That was hard to deal with; dad gets to go ride and kiddo can't. It's not an issue these days and he loves to get on and go.

Enjoy the shared experiences! They certainly don't last long, do they?