OK, so the team spotted my 10 year-old some really nice SIDI shoes. Then they spotted my older son a team bike. So I turned around his bike and set it up for her this weekend and got her trying out shoes and pedals. For the non-cyclist folks, riders use special shoes with cleats that clip into pedals. They enable you to not only push down, but pull up on the pedals. They also enable you to push forward (like you're putting on boots) and pull through (like you're scraping mud off your shoe). But you have to learn to un-clip them, otherwise you fall down when you stop. We took off for a short ride up to the local community college. Along the way, we cut across a field and a parking lot. At the gravel in between, there was a bunch of sand. Sand is bad for skinny tires, especially when you are a gnat-weight, especially when you have very little experience with riding. Note the road rash on the knee in the picture. She's fine. She whined a bit at first (OK, quite a bit) but after a while she was fine. She eventually tried to attack her brother and I a couple of times (that's a cycling attack, it's legal, and encouraged). If she can harness that anger, she will go far in this sport.
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