Frequently Asked Question #1

1) Questions: What’s the deal with your daughter learning to ride a bike in a swimsuit (which offers no real protection from harm) in contrast to her full-on X-games style elbow and knee pads and a helmet that is, shall we say, not so cute and girly? Also, what kind of a dad just sits back and lets the tape roll while his daughter is constantly spilling herself over the handlebars and onto the sidewalk? Shouldn’t he have thrown in the towel after about—oh maybe—the fifth time or so? Also, what is that familiar-ish background music?

Answers: We woke up that morning originally planning to go for a swim—that should explain the swimsuit and the wild, just-woken-up hairdo. Annie saw some of the neighbor kids riding their bikes and asked if I thought she could learn how to ride without training wheels, too. Of course I’m not going to say “no,” but to be honest I figured she would be more like me, and slowly work up to it over several days. If I had realized that I would be holding her for only 30 feet and then she'd be on her own for the rest of the day I might have had her change into something a little more appropriate for bike riding and/or having her video splashed onto the public domain.

The ugly black helmet is the result of me getting a new, old motorcycle (40 years old, but new to me). I’m not sure what California motorcycle laws might say about me giving my 5 and 3-year-olds rides around the block, but I’m pretty sure if that does happen to be legal, they are probably supposed to be wearing some sort of an approved helmet. The black X-games helmet is the most official looking thing I could find that would actually fit them. My thinking is that (a) it would probably protect them pretty well if
something were to happen and (b) any local law enforcement officer who happened to see us might not know what the law is either and might just figure that we probably do. The knee and elbow pads came with the helmet and ended up being quite useful, as you have probably seen.

What you don’t see in the video is that for every crash-and-burn shown on the video she successfully cruised for a half and hour or so. The crashes, followed by evidence of her stubborn determination, were a lot more compelling (and revealing of her personality) than the up-and-down-the-street footage. Trust me.

The background music is from Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. Despite that show’s famous relationship to bike-riding, the song in question is actually the background to the opening credits in which PW’s Rube Goldberg-type contraption (if I’m recalling the mid 1980’s correctly) was toasting his toast, juicing his juice and baking his bacon.