At dinner this evening, whilst joking around about how much fun I would have on my forthcoming European tour on my own, my son came out with something that chilled his mothers heart: “Can I come with you? I want to ride a bike”.

Now, this is not entirely unexpected. My son is 7 going on 8 and at that wonderfully impressionable age when he’s just starting to understand what he thinks is cool and isn’t. For my son, bikes seem to be a natural cool thing. After all, his Dad has four of them. His favorite t-shirts are his two Triumph ones that I talked the dealer into giving me for free when I bought the Tiger and he wears them incessantly. I’ve even caught him flicking through my bike magazines and showing his friends the pictures of Fireblades and off-road bikes along with the phrase “that’s what my dad does”. I’m not sure if the pang of pride I felt was that he was interested in what I like, or that he was pointing to Travis Pastrana at the time and thus wildly off-base if entirely flattering. Still, I can’t get him to sit down and watch SBK races with me, at least not yet.

But he is now expressing the goal that he wants to ride a bike and that will only lead to conflict. His mother is of the old school when it comes to anything with even the slightest hint of danger about it. She won’t even let him walk to school on his own, even though it’s only two minutes walk and he knows how to cross the road on his own. I keep pointing out how people like Rossi and Hopkins first got on bikes when they were probably half his age, that the first thing you need to learn is how to be safe but she’s having none of it. For her, bikes are dangerous and that means her son will never ride one. I think the phrases she used were “over my dead body” and “if you want to break your mothers heart”. I’m sure if I didn’t have so much life insurance, she’d sell them next time I was out the house.

So, we’re at something of an impasse. It may seem odd, but I’m not actively encouraging my son to ride. My philosophy is that as a parent you need to set the ground rules for kids and then help them to make decisions. Denying them anything will only make them want it more. In Thomas’s case, the first step is easy. He needs to learn how to ride a bicycle which for some reason he’s never gotten around to doing and I can see him now out of my window diligently falling off and putting his foot down at every opportunity. When I explained that cornering on a bicycle is not unlike cornering on a motorcycle his eyes lit up while his mother started burning into the back of my neck.

Mind you, having said I’m not actively encouraging him to ride, it would be fun to head off with him while at the cottage for an afternoon’s adventure in the dirt. After all, every boy needs a bit of fun and danger in their lives and at least I’d be with him.

I’m also considering going to a camp with him so he can learn in a safe controlled environment. To me, this seems the best way for him to learn. They provide all the gear, including the bike of course, and I don’t have to lay out a nigh on a thousand bucks for something he *might* hate. I dare say they could teach him a lot better than me, too. The trouble is how to persuade his mother? She’s not susceptible to bribery but deep down I think it’s just a control thing so I might yet still be able to make her see reason.

Maybe she’s just worried about the floodgates opening. After all, Thomas’s younger sister already she wanted a motorcycle too and I can’t help what my kids say, even if their mom thinks I’m encouraging them when I’m not.

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