Lose the Training Wheels bike camp, final day

Today Jesse rode around and around on his bike like--well, like a kid who rides a bike.  He was so fast that his mom, the other spotter, and I had to take turns going with him because we'd get worn out.  He was, in fact, so fast that at one point, after running at top speed twice around the warehouse alongside him, I gasped, "Jesse, we have to stop!" and he said, "I don't want to."  He geared up to make a turn to go around the warehouse again, and I had to brake him using his safety bar because I was going to collapse from running so fast!  He was going to keep going--I stopped us!*

He also got good enough at steering that he was able to ride in between other bikers in the warehouse (it was pretty full today).  At one point when I was with him, he chose to ride into a column rather than into another biker who came up pretty suddenly.  He hurt his hand, but he took it in stride.  I told him that crashing is part of what makes you a real biker, and he let me kiss his finger, then was ready to ride again.  This from the kid who, on day one, needed to stop and gather himself after just riding near other bikers.  He has worked so hard and made such significant progress that it blows my mind.  He's going to have to keep at it for a few weeks in order to build what Maybelle's physical therapist calls a motor plan (LTTW pretty strongly suggests two solid weeks of practice after the camp), but then he's just going to be a kid in the world riding a bike, exploring, going places he wants to go.

35 folks took part in our bike camp, and at the end of the week 31 of them were able to ride a two-wheeled bike.


*This makes me sound like a bit of a loser, but I will say in my defense that Jesse's mom observed that he was biking faster with me than he was with the other two spotters, since they're both significantly shorter than I am.  Perhaps Jesse could tell that I was capable of running faster.  That, at least, is what I choose to believe.