Two-Wheeled Adventures with Finn

Yesterday, Finn spent some time with his cousin doing wheelies and bushwhacking through the woods. After a brief hiatus of non-racing due to holidays and rain outs, we returned to BMX racing today. Far from “out of the weather,” with more epic spring thunderstorms this morning and storm clouds surrounding the track, we squeaked out a few hours of fair weather riding.  Enroute to the track, Finn actually said, “I can’t wait to race.” I had him repeat it just to be sure. But I knew the reality of things and enthusiasm to race while in the car seat doesn’t directly translate to the starting gate. We’ll have to see.  Knowing Finn’s proclivity to wallow in any puddle he can find, the muddier the better, I took a full change of clothes and shoes. The challenge would be to keep him from soiling the outfit he needed for the race- closed-toed shoes, pants, and long sleeves. It was muggy as hell, so his other clothes were short sleeved tee, shorts, and sandals. It was a tough negotiatio...

Finn's BMX racing opportunities occur either Friday evening or Sunday afternoon. Nina's typical work schedule on Sundays had us angling to race Friday night so she could attend and cheer on Finn. As luck would have it, he was in a pretty grumpy state Friday afternoon, so we thought better of it and punted to Sunday. Well, a thunderstorm on Sunday morning eventually cancelled the races and we didn't know it till we discovered the track was closed with standing water in the corners. So we stayed on site and went to the playground and spent some time on the bicycles.  Between race weekends, we've been trying to normalize having the bike with us or doing things on bikes. Finn and I take rides on my bike with the shotgun seat (where he sits in front of me, not behind) multiple times a week, weather permitting. We also took the opportunity to go to Tulsa Gathering Place park, where they have a small skate park with rollers like a mini BMX track. Finn tried that for a bit, but...

Thus far in this story we haven’t really talked about Finn’s mom Nina much. On the occasion of Mother’s Day, she deserves a belated tribute. While two-wheeled talk and moto adventure has inspired a lot of eye rolls because her passions generally lie elsewhere, we have shared a strong family love of the outdoors. So Finn’s bicycling has fit in well with our camping, hiking, and time outside gardening. Also, her line of work and commitment to being a highly active parent for Finn has allowed her to provide lots of opportunities for him to grow in bicycling. A couple times a week, she sends me vids of Finn’s epic off-road bicycle adventures.  We share concerns about the problems with modern youth sports. Perhaps with youth BMX, we’re headed down a similar path to the same destination as we would with soccer or baseball. We’ll just have to see.  Nina is far more skilled (and patient) than I am as a parent and coach. She has honed these skills through her career as a professional d...

  Since we had an off week from racing for Mother's Day, here's some more background on our protagonist, Finn (and maybe some context about me). I guess you can say he exited the womb with a destiny on two wheels. At least I hoped so. One of the first articles of clothing I bought for him had a motorcycle on it. He was a bit too young to ride and it was winter, so we together longed for spring and its fair riding weather. But the bicycle training began as early as practicable. In our quest to de-gas our infant, we'd move his legs in a bicycle motion. Often, this yielded desired results. But he needed training on the throttle and clutch, so I took pleasure in playing a song for him so he could learn how to braap- "Dirt Bike Rider" by Hot Action Cop. " When I was a kid...  I never bothered with what my friends did. I just wanted to be a dirt bike rider." For the first 2 years of Finn's life, I did what I could to bring him into the 2-wheeled fold. Shop...

  One week after Finn's BMX race debut, we had a pre-scheduled father/son campout weekend about an hour from home. Sand Springs BMX has Friday night and Sunday afternoon races so we considered racing Friday so we wouldn't miss a week. Instead, since we had fair weather (for a change), we decided to head to camp and spend two nights. First time Finn's been away from his mama for two consecutive nights, but it was a success. We took four bicycles- Finn's green race bike, his orange strider, his Trek pedal bike (with training wheels), and my MTB with toddler shotgun seat. We rode all four, plus my dirtbike. It was also a good opportunity to ease into his new full-face helmet. The transition to that was simple enough... just keep the half helmet put away and offer the full face. When not riding bicycles and playing with dump trucks, Finn was exploring the creek and catching frogs, fish, and a snake. Good times.  Late Saturday, we decided that making the Sunday afternoon rac...