After Alex’s first try of his new bike on Friday resulted in him going straight over the handle bars, we had a very bicycle themed day today to get him really comfortable on it.

We started off with a bit of inspiration – watching the pros in the Tour of Britain!  We headed up to Parliament Square to watch some of the final stage Time Trial.

Alex and Sophie enjoyed cheering and clapping every rider and got excited every time they heard people cheering down the course which told us when a rider was coming!

We lasted about an hour – wish we could have stayed for the second race of the day, but not sure the children would have been so enthusiastic hours later!

We caught a glimpse of Mark Cavendish speeding by, and even saw Sir Bradley Wiggins making his way to the start looking very cool!  We decided to wander over to the South Bank, crossing the river at Westminster Bridge.  That happened to be where all the team buses were, so we were lucky enough to see loads of cyclists warming up and down, and heading in and out of their team areas.  There was a lot of amazing kit about!

Here’s Alex in the Team Sky area. Surprised we weren’t spotted by a talent scout!  Should have got him a blue bike!

After some noodles, we headed back to Herne Hill.  We enjoyed some live music at the Farmer’s Market and a couple of trips on the miniature railway in Brockwell Park, before heading up to the BMX track.  Alex flew around it on his new, lighter bike, needing no help at all!  He looked so cool and confident!

He exhausted himself racing round multiple times – but our bike riding wasn’t over yet.  We popped home to pick up our bikes and cycled as a family to Dulwich Village.  Alex kept up beautifully and Sophie loved sitting on the back of my bike, not even complaining about wearing a helmet.  I see a whole range of weekend bike trips opening up at last now Alex can cycle a fair distance!

While I bought the children some new shoes, Matt edited a little video of super Alex speeding around the BMX track.  How cool is this?!