Overview
If you don’t know what a Strider Bike is, head to their website for more information. Basically, it is a balance bike that allows children to learn how to ride a bike without training wheels and they use their feet to move instead of pedals. Once they have the balance down, they can graduate to pedals, all without having to use training wheels. My son first participated in the Strider Cup when he was 2 years old using the 12” bike. This time around he is five and rides a 14x which is a larger bike. The 14x comes with a pedal kit that allows you to easily take the pedals on and off.
The Course
The Strider Cup that we participated in incorporated both running, balance bike mode, and pedal bike mode:
- Lap 1: Running
- Lap 2 – 3: Balance Mode
- Lap 4 – 6: Pedal Mode
The total distance is about 3,500 feet (1065 meters) and the race took place at Main Street Square, Downtown Rapid City, SD.
Once lap 1 is done, they will switch to their Strider Bike in balance mode and do two laps. After the two laps are done, there is a pit stop where one of the parents installs the bike chain and pedals which will be used for the last 3 laps of the race. There are obstacles along the way such as having to stop and carry the bike over and object and get back on the bike again and go.
The Race
My kid is wearing the helmet with the green spikes with a green and black tank top. He goes by the nickname of Big E. The announcer in the video was calling him Big E and Big Easy. He is in 3rd place until he gets to the pit stop. My wife was able to beat all the dads and was able to install the pedals and chain before the others and Big E came out of the pit stop in first place. Big E is the fastest when it comes to pedalling so we knew if he was able to get into 1st place that he would have a good shot at winning the event. We ended up taking first place and Big E was able to get his trophy that he wanted.
Video
Below is a video of the event that I put together really quick. I’m trying to get other footage of the race and I will update this post with an updated video.