Bike!
When I was maybe nine or ten years old, I had a horrible bike accident. We lived just outside of town on a gravel road, and attached to that gravel road there was a busy, narrow blacktop road with no shoulders. Instead of shoulders, this blacktop road had ditches on either side that were full of pointy pebbles and broken glass.
One evening, I begged my father to take me with him on his bike ride on this road, and he, annoyed at me wanting to tag along, agreed that I could come but only if I managed to keep up with his pace. I was wearing flip-flop sandals, but didn't bother to change into sneakers because I didn't want to be left behind. I hopped on my 10-speed that had been a Christmas gift a year or two earlier and off we rode.
The ride ended when we headed down a hill on this narrow, busy road and I panicked in the rush of the cars and trying to stay right at the edge of the shoulderless road. I hit the brake - the front brake - a little too hard, and went flying topsy-turvy over the handlebars and into the sharp pointy bits in the ditch. There followed a trip to the ER, only after my mother had forced me to take a bath and put on clean clothes because she didn't want to drag her filthy daughter into the hospital where she worked. Once there, I spent a couple hours having grit picked out of my elbows and knees and later that week I ended up having surgery to fix a broken foot (nobody listened to me that night when I told them that what hurt worst was my foot when I had all that bloody shrapnel attracting their attention.)
So, for twenty-odd years, when I think of bicycles, I think of a fairly traumatic experience. I never did get truly comfortable with riding a bike on the street again, although the 10-speed was salvaged and I rode it as needed till it rusted out and literally fell apart early in my college years. Since then, I've been bike-less.
I've thought about getting a bike now and then over the years, but I was never sure that the expense was worth the risk that I might not actually use it - we are urban dwellers, after all, surrounded by busy streets. But then we bought a bike trailer and Joe started taking Julie for rides in it. It looked like such fun! There is a bike trail just a few blocks away from our house that surely would be less scary for someone like me than the open road. Sophie is just about old enough, and a family outing on the bikes seems like a great way to spend a little time together.
Mother's Day came around, and I tried to convince Joe that I needed either a warping board or a niddy-noddy. He said "I already bought you wooden things for winding yarn." (He has a point - I have a lovely hand-turned nostepinne as well as a hand-crafted swift, both gifts from my beloved.) I thought a little more and said "Maybe a bike - it could be for our anniversary too." So, since we were traveling on the actual day, yesterday we went to the bike shop and I picked this out:
It's a nice upright bike with a big fat-ass seat and a gear-shift system that seems pretty intuitive. Best of all, it's got good shocks so that if I make that fatal front-brake error again, I probably won't flip the bike. I'm a little wobbly after all this time off a bike, but riding it around the block a couple times tonight - Joe picked it up from the shop this evening after they did the initial tune-up - I felt like a 10-year-old kid again. Giddy. Silly. Happy.
While we were at the bike shop, we looked for a helmet small enough for Sophie. They didn't have one there, but Joe found one at another store today.
I see some biking in our near future.
Oh, and the puzzle continues to take form...
One evening, I begged my father to take me with him on his bike ride on this road, and he, annoyed at me wanting to tag along, agreed that I could come but only if I managed to keep up with his pace. I was wearing flip-flop sandals, but didn't bother to change into sneakers because I didn't want to be left behind. I hopped on my 10-speed that had been a Christmas gift a year or two earlier and off we rode.
The ride ended when we headed down a hill on this narrow, busy road and I panicked in the rush of the cars and trying to stay right at the edge of the shoulderless road. I hit the brake - the front brake - a little too hard, and went flying topsy-turvy over the handlebars and into the sharp pointy bits in the ditch. There followed a trip to the ER, only after my mother had forced me to take a bath and put on clean clothes because she didn't want to drag her filthy daughter into the hospital where she worked. Once there, I spent a couple hours having grit picked out of my elbows and knees and later that week I ended up having surgery to fix a broken foot (nobody listened to me that night when I told them that what hurt worst was my foot when I had all that bloody shrapnel attracting their attention.)
So, for twenty-odd years, when I think of bicycles, I think of a fairly traumatic experience. I never did get truly comfortable with riding a bike on the street again, although the 10-speed was salvaged and I rode it as needed till it rusted out and literally fell apart early in my college years. Since then, I've been bike-less.
I've thought about getting a bike now and then over the years, but I was never sure that the expense was worth the risk that I might not actually use it - we are urban dwellers, after all, surrounded by busy streets. But then we bought a bike trailer and Joe started taking Julie for rides in it. It looked like such fun! There is a bike trail just a few blocks away from our house that surely would be less scary for someone like me than the open road. Sophie is just about old enough, and a family outing on the bikes seems like a great way to spend a little time together.
Mother's Day came around, and I tried to convince Joe that I needed either a warping board or a niddy-noddy. He said "I already bought you wooden things for winding yarn." (He has a point - I have a lovely hand-turned nostepinne as well as a hand-crafted swift, both gifts from my beloved.) I thought a little more and said "Maybe a bike - it could be for our anniversary too." So, since we were traveling on the actual day, yesterday we went to the bike shop and I picked this out:
It's a nice upright bike with a big fat-ass seat and a gear-shift system that seems pretty intuitive. Best of all, it's got good shocks so that if I make that fatal front-brake error again, I probably won't flip the bike. I'm a little wobbly after all this time off a bike, but riding it around the block a couple times tonight - Joe picked it up from the shop this evening after they did the initial tune-up - I felt like a 10-year-old kid again. Giddy. Silly. Happy.
While we were at the bike shop, we looked for a helmet small enough for Sophie. They didn't have one there, but Joe found one at another store today.
I see some biking in our near future.
Oh, and the puzzle continues to take form...
posted by Shelly Kang at 11:12 PM
4 Comments:
What kind of bike did you get? Biking on the trail is great!
Yes, Yes, please tell us what kind of bike it is. I'm looking for someting just like that.
On a another note, your Blankie has inspired me and I am knitting my own version. Sock yarn, on 2s. I'm thinking it will be 40" x 60" or 8 squares by 12 sqares. 14 down, 82 to go.
If you intend to ride more than short rides, talk to the bike shop about a female seat. They make all the difference in riding comfort.
Perhaps your seat is already female since you say it's wide. If not, that's what you need.
i'm a little behind - as i was one who got lost in the shuffle (at least my reader did), and it all happened the same time that my significant other and i graduated - separately with different degrees, but less than a week apart. so i'll be slowly working my way towards today's post. :)
anyways.
congrats on the bike!!! :)
i'm an avid rider, although less so right now with my job, but i used to use it for my primary mode of transportation. i definitely miss it. and the bike trails are great! i dont' know how they are in your neck of the woods, but for folks near me, i definitely take them on bike trails if they haven't been out in a while.
have fun!!!
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