My First Bike Ride

I've decided to tell some stories about my childhood to give you some background...this week we start with my first time riding a bike by myself...successfully.

We lived in Alaska when I was learning to ride a bike. We had bumpy dirt roads with pebble sized gravel. And I admit I had a pretty big learning curve when trying to learn. I crashed into trash cans, fences, and even between two connected mail boxes where I got stuck. My brother and my Dad had to stop laughing in order to help me. So I became a little apprehensive about bike riding.

Then one day...my brother and I were out and he talked me into trying it again. He promised he would hold onto the seat and I would be fine. He ran along with me but unknown to me he let go of the seat and just ran along. Then he stopped running along side. And amazingly I remained upright. I had successfully learned how to ride a bike. I was thrilled. Now this is not to say that there were not accidents. Oh there were...

The day before I started 4th grade I wiped out on my bike and had scrapes on both knees and both elbows. Mom put the big gauze bandages on them to protect them. But to go to school the next day I wore a long sleeve blouse and a long skirt to hide my bandages. That didn't last too long...I had to share the story and show the bandages.

I still love the feel of being on a bike there is something about the wind blowing across you...now ours just says Harley on the side ;-)