Baby's first bike ride

Summer is a great time to be outside exploring and experiencing the world. For a baby, most of these experiences are brand new. So, there are many “firsts” that happen during the summer. We recently had baby’s first camping trip. This week, we had baby’s first bike ride.
This first is particularly exciting to me because riding bikes is one of my favorite things to do in life. To be more precise, riding bikes with my family is one of my favorite things. My wife and I have accumulated a couple thousand miles of riding with our other kids over the years. But, all of those epic adventures we’ve taken started with a first step: baby’s first bike ride.
This photo captures a very important moment for our family. This moment is kind of like that moment when a kid goes pee on the potty for the first time—you know that life will never be the same after that. A whole new world of possibilities just opened up. Moments before this photo, our little guy was still bike-uninitiated. Now, he’s been introduced to the joys of the ride.
I wish you could have seen the smiles and giggles that followed this moment as I towed him up and down the quiet side street. His smiles and giggles were definitely cuter, but I think mine were felt more deeply. He was smiling and giggling about the new sensation of seeing the world roll by from the seat of the bike trailer. I was smiling and giggling from the thoughts of all the great adventures in bike touring that await us in the years ahead. My imagination was flooded with scenes of taking him on overnight trips a few years from now and daydreams of doing a father-son cross-country tour in his teen years and riding the Tour de France together when he’s an adult. OK, maybe that last one is a bit lofty, but a guy can dream, can’t he?
All of those dreams started with this moment. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a step. This was our first step, and I’m certain that the journey ahead will include many thousands of miles pedaling together. I can’t wait!
P.S. I recently had another story of one of my many bike adventures with my kids published in a book of dad stories called “Dads Behaving Dadly 2.” Consider picking up a copy for the dads in your life for Father’s Day.