Kid's Ride 2

I cannot say enough good things about how NEMBA runs their Kid's Ride Series. The leaders are great. The encourage the kids to push themselves.
Today was Bug's second kid's ride. She wasn't really sure about going because she gets nervous riding with new people particularly when I am not right with her. The kid's rides are organized so that the kids ride in a group with the parents trailing, so essentially the kids are riding on their own. She was also a little worried that the trails would be too hard for her.
The ride was right by our house and we had already done a bunch of the trails, so that made her feel better. I also reminded her that if she goes on three rides, she gets a tee shirt.
We went out with the middle skilled group. The advanced group was mostly older kids who had been riding for a while and wanted to shred. The beginner group was for kids that had never mountain biked or were on balance bikes. The middle group was huge.
It didn't take long for our group to split into sub-groups. Just after leaving the main field in front of the community gardens there is a bridge. We had more than one rider become a walker. After the bridge, there was a small be steady incline that further broke the group down. In the end, I think our initial group split off into three groups.
After the sorting, our group picked up speed and headed out along the Greenway. The kids all did great. There was some walking here and there as we came upon obstacles or surprisingly steep inclines.
At stops, I checked in with Bug and she seemed to be enjoying herself. Her biggest worry was not that the trails were hard; she was more concerned that kids in front of her kept getting hung up on inclines and making her slow down....
We made a stop at the bump track. The kids enjoyed riding around the track, but no-one really got the idea of bumping around the track. I cannot bump around the whole track either. I still need to peddle to get around...
After the bump track we headed way out the Greenway. We went out past Avalon and Walnut Street to the long bridge that leads down to the soccer fields. It was as long and difficult as some of the adult beginner rides I've done this summer.
The thing I learned was that going slow requires a lot of skill. When I'm bombimg along the trail, momentum makes getting over things easier, it makes missed shifts a little less terrible, and it magically stabilizes the bike. Balancing and speed changes are a unique challenge.
Towards the end of the ride, a few of the younger kids started running out of steam. There was one boy who was a super trooper. He was ridding a 16" BMX rig with a single speed that looked like it weighed as much as he did. Going out he tried just about everything. On the way back he walked a lot more. He still gave everything the old college try, but he was fading. His persistence was impressive.
The enthusiasm of the kids and their excitement after conquering a challenge is great. I know Bug feels better about herself after completing a ride. Now she really wants that tee shirt....