Beyond the Book: I Had a Great Time Until I Didn't

  “As a kid, did you ride a bicycle? Tell us about the bike, where you rode it, who you rode with, etc. Did you continue riding bikes as a grown-up?”

I wish I could remember when I got my first bike, I don’t think I was too old when I got it. I think it was when we moved to a suburb a few miles out of town. There wasn’t a lot of traffic in the old days, so my parents weren’t afraid we’d get kidnapped or hit by a car. There was a family of girls who lived nearby so most of the time we rode together. I always enjoyed my bike very much, but once my parents gave me a horse for Christmas I found that I’d far rather ride her than a bike.

Before I abandoned the bike I had a few hair raising experiences. The first one I remember was getting on the bike intending to ride it to the bottom of a pretty steep hill. Funny thing though. The chain came off the bike, and it literally flew down that hill. I knew better than to try to stop at that speed so I just held on until it finally glided to a stop. I wasn’t hurt, but I was very traumatized. 

Another incident happened when my cousin came to visit. My sister loaned her bike to the cousin and off the two of us went. Everything was going well until my cousin hit a patch of loose gravel in the road and down she went. She was bleeding from a bad cut on her chin, and she wouldn’t get up. She just lay in the road moaning. I ran to a house and asked them to call my dad. He came right away, and my cousin had to get stitches and have a tooth repaired.

The last time I rode a bike my kids and I were just cruising around the neighborhood when the hand brake broke and got tangled in the spokes of the front wheel. The bike came to an abrupt end and threw me over the handlebars. The kids were scared and ran for their father. I’m glad he came quickly because I couldn’t get up, and the place where I was lying was definitely unsafe. I had a splitting headache for three or four days after that. I still think I had a concussion, but were leaving for vacation the next day so I didn’t say anything. 

What about you? As an adult do you still ride a bicycle? I don’t. I always intended that once the kids were out of school I’d buy myself another horse. I had lots more trouble with the bike than I did with the horse. In the long run I din’t get my horse either. Arthritis and Meniere’s Disease ( extreme vertigo) shot that dream down in a hurry. My husband was secretly glad I didn’t get another horse. He doesn’t like them. I have no idea why he thought that I didn’t know how he felt, LOL. After 51 years together the man’s an open book to me.