Vicky's First Bike Ride 2 Miles

Three Wheels and a Helmet (Chalco Hills Wehrspann Lake Trail)

Preparing For Her First Bike Ride

April 5, 2008 Vicky took her first ever trail ride on her three wheeler. Vicky is a beginning bicyclist, and needless to say, extremely nervous when she learned that the day had finally arrived for her first outdoor ride on her three wheeled bicycle.

We loaded the bike on the bike rack on the back of our car (whew, what a chore to get it tied down just right), and headed for our selected park. Approaching the park, we both noticed the trail was incredibly crowded, and kept going to another park (our area is loaded with parks and trails).

Luckily the second park was not too crowded, and it didn't take long to unload the bike and get on the trail. This was my wife's day, and I left my bike at home, planning to walk along beside her just in case, and she did promise to go slow so that I could keep up with her.

Successfull First Bike Ride (Chalco Hills Wehrspann Lake Trail)

Success And A Smile

I was quite impressed at how well she did on this first ride, and noticed her nervousness turned to pure enjoyment of riding in only a few minutes.

We set ourselves a goal of making it to the next parking area, turning around and heading back. Never having walked this segment of the trail, we were unsure just how far this would be.

After riding a bit (as I walked along, now a ways behind her), my wife stopped and waited for me to catch up. She asked if I would like to ride a while, and I noticed she made this offer as the first steep uphill grade was near us.

Vicky Tackles a Hill (Chalco Hills Wehrspann Lake Trail)

Vicky Tackles A Hill

I turned down the offer of riding the three wheeler up the hill, and expected my wife to push her bike most of the way up the hill, but was impressed when she managed to pedal almost to the top. This was quite a hill for a first time ride on her single speed three wheeler, and you can see that Vicky is enjoying the view of the lake.

Once Around the Lake Please (Chalco Hills Wehrspann Lake Trail)

Once Around The Lake Please

Reaching the top of the hill, we discovered we had arrived at our planned turnaround point. Vicky hopefully asked if we could go all the way around the lake, but it is about seven miles, and I really did not want to walk that far as she rode her bike.

If you are wondering, we did take our bikes on a ride around this lake on June 7, 2008.

Down the Hill on Vicky's Three Wheeler (Chalco Hills Wehrspann Lake Trail)

Down the Hill on Vicky's Three Wheeler

Not too sure how well my wife would do going back down the steep hill, I rode her bike down to the more level section of the trail. Her three wheeler is fun to ride!

I did notice that one of her front brakes (it has two sets of front brakes) wasn't quite doing the trick, so that'll need a bit of adjusting before we got out again.

We arrived back at the parking lot and our car, but weren't quite ready to quit yet, so we headed a little bit down another trail to a bench, and took turns riding back and forth on her bike while the other one of us sat on the bench.

I am not sure exactly how far my wife rode, but I guess it was about a couple miles. It'd be nice to get a speedometer and tripmeter on her bicycle. 20 inch tires, wonder if we can find a speedometer that'll work on that size...

Note: Yes, we did get that speedometer, and it was easy enough to set it for use with 20" wheels.

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