4 is not 7
June 7, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
Charlie’s been doing really well this past year to the point that sometimes Jim and I try to change things up a little too fast or much for him. I guess you could say, we get used to Charlie being able to do “whatever” and then we just go ahead (blunder on) and make some small change that seems just sensible to us and then realize……..too fast.
The latest example is “4 is not 7″—-the numbers aren’t a reference to anything that might be injected into a child “too many, too soon.” The numbers are the numbers on the dial of the gear shift on Charlie’s red bike—it was his Christmas present and it’s a real bike, a mountain bike with a tough yet lightweight frame. It’s a bit too big for me to get on, personally; I have happily inherited Charlie’s yellow bike.
On Thursday, Jim took Charlie out on a different route that involved real hills. The kind of hills that bikers with brightly colored jerseys seek out; the kind of hills that climb slowly and ever so constantly, and just keep going up and up. And up. Jim leaned over and flicked the gear on Charlie’s bike from 7 to 4, so Charlie wouldn’t have to work the pedals as hard.
Charlie got quickly off his bike and walked it up the rest of the hill.
When they come home (the way back was easier), and had eaten fish and vegetables (and fries, in Charlie’s case), Jim kept bringing up the shifting of the gears from 7 to 4. He’s been trying to explain to Charlie about the gears and about how you change them on different terrains and on hills, and then Jim started to wonder if Charlie just seeing the 4 there instead of the usual 7 unsettled him. Cognitive dissonance, plain and simple.
It’s supposed to be a warm, warm weekend and Jim’s been planning out a good bike ride today on leveler, familiar ground. And the gear on the red bike is already set to a comfortable 7.
So Charlie leaves the gears alone? My 11 year old is ready for a new bike, a bigger size. But I think he will play with the gears and mess up the mechanics. I don’t want to have to repair his bike daily so have been thinking about just getting a single gear cruiser. We have NO hills here.
Other times he’s been fiddiling with them but I think he’s starting to leave them alone. I think Charlie’ll get it eventually—-another thing to learn! For me, I’d just prefer one gear…..
There are countless bikes out there that haven’t been shifted, the owner thinking that the highest gear is the best. Automatically shifting bikes have been made, but none ever seem to make it. Today’s bikes shift much better than those in the 70’s. Besides hills, the other reason bikes have gearing is the wind. We humans have rather narrow powerbands, producing effective power only in a narrow range of pedal speeds. That said, there are those who eschew shifting and use fixed-gear bikes, like what are used in velodromes. I myself prefer to have my gears, and prefer they be closely spaced. But wait….autistics aren’t supposed to be able to ride bikes, are they? Another stereotype bites the dust…