Our Tour Down Under
As the Tour Down Under is on in our local area, it reminded me that this year saw our family celebrate a wonderful milestone, which has been many years in the making. We went for our first bike ride together. And it was magnificent.
Both of my sons have Autism Spectrum Disorder, as well as low muscle tone. The combination of the two has made learning to ride a bike very difficult for them. The low tone affects their ability to impart sufficient momentum to get the bike going. Hence it is almost stopped before both feet get onto the pedals. We countered this by purchasing bikes with alloy frames which were lighter weight. The affects of autism on bike riding are many; it affects spatial awareness, such as how close they are to other objects that they ride past. It also affects how they feel about having their feet off of the ground, with which they were not comfortable in the beginning. They also disliked the trainer wheels because the bike would tip with every undulation in the path and around every corner – cue many, many meltdowns and subsequent walks back to the house.
So years of physiotherapy to assist with the low muscle tone followed. Combined with the occupational therapy to help with their spatial awareness and vestibular systems we made progress. It has been one of those things that you literally just “chip away” at. We say a lot in our family that “practice makes progress”. Slowly but surely they became stronger and more confident. Then there was a big crash into the fence around the tennis courts that we were practicing on. It was bad; no broken bones, but a bruised groin and it really shook his confidence for our eldest. It took a really long time for him to go near his bike again.
So this summer holidays I decided we needed to give one last good go at it; if it didn’t happen then it would be one of those dreams that I would let go of, but not without having given it our all. It would just be something that other families do. If you can’t ride a bike you are increasing your social isolation, and I did not want that for my boys.
We started with many small rides, often one parent with one child at a time. Each time the distance increased – as did the confidence. Then I heard “this is fun.” Such joyful words that I had been longing to hear.
Now we ride as a family, the wind sweeping past us as we enjoy some quality time together making memories. So as you all enjoy the Tour Down Under, I will be thinking of our Tour Down Under as a family.