I was the recipient of an absolutely adorable bicycle for my birthday. See?
I love it. It’s so cute & the basket is removable, so that when I go to the Farmer’s Market or ride to my favorite coffee shop, I can put things in it & shop with it & I AM IN LOVE.
Still, I have to be real with you here: I’ve not always been a bicycle person.
Riding a bike is one of those thing kids learn early. I have a friend who has a two-year-old who rides a bike. Without training wheels. Far distances. Most everyone I know was tooling around the neighborhood on two wheels by the start of kindergarten.
Me? Not so much. And by “not so much” I mean that I didn’t learn until I was EIGHT. EIGHT YEARS OLD. Yes, I didn’t learn to ride until I was in third grade. I know. Third grade.
The thing is that I was really, really scared. I was scared of everything that comes with riding a bike. Pedaling. Balancing. TURNING CORNERS. No, really — seriously, I used to ride straight down the street & then get off my bike, turn it around & ride it back down the street. And ohmygod, CURBS. CURBS used to freak me out. One time, when I was just getting the hang of riding a bike, I did that stupid thing where the wheel sort of rubs the curb and BAM, I flipped over & clearly, I am still traumatized.
Don’t even get me started on our driveway. As a child, our driveway might as well have been Everest. I was PETRIFIED of riding down it, sure that I’d go careening to my death, at the bottom of a little concrete hill. My childhood home is on a very standard suburban street, & there is the tiniest of slopes when you turn around the corner. As a kid, this used to absolutely scare the hell out of me. I used to cry & plead & beg to not have to go down the hill.
Let’s pause here for a moment of silence for MY PARENTS who had to deal with my childhood neuroses. We’re not the bravest family ever — there shall be no family skydiving or anything soon — but, they also weren’t afraid of riding a bike. Bless them for dealing with their spaz of a daughter who WAS petrified of absolutely everything.
The thing is that once I learned to ride my bike, I loved it. I loved riding around the neighborhood, rode my bike to school & sincerely enjoyed being outside on it. In fact, this past year or so is the only time in my life that I haven’t actually owned a bike. I’m not big into trails (SCARY!) and whatnot, but I do love a leisurely ride around the neighborhood, or being able to grab coffee without getting in the car.
I’ve spent a lot of my life being afraid of things. If there’s something to be nervous about, you can almost always bet that I’m not only nervous about it, but actually completely terrified. It’s not something I’m proud of, because truthfully, most things end up being like my bike: something I was completely afraid of becomes one of my favorite things to do.
I’m trying to remember that more & more these days. That sure, you can be a little nervous, but after that? You’ve got to go for it.
It’s usually pretty rewarding.
What were you afraid of as a kid? What things do you do now that used to scare you?
22 Comments so far
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I recently got a new bicycle as well and am busily adding accessories. I need to take some pics of it and post about it, once I get everything done.
Growing up, I loved my bikes because I associated them with far flung freedom. It’s so hot in Az during the summer that you only want to go so far on foot, but on a bike? It’s really not so bad.
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By Raven on 04.23.10 8:43 am | Permalink
i am not much of a bike-rider either, but if i had a bike that looked like THAT^^ i think i would change!
i was always a nervous kid who was afraid to try anything i wasn’t sure i would excel at (silly, eh). but i remember mostly being afraid of deep ocean/lake water. where you can’t see the bottom, or your feet, or whatever is swimming around them. eek! freaks me out right now thinking about it. maybe i’m still a little afraid….
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By shannon on 04.23.10 8:51 am | Permalink
SO JEALOUS. I want a bike just like that in pink!
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By Ashlee on 04.23.10 9:02 am | Permalink
Love the bike!!! And dont feel bad, I didn’t learn how to ride a two wheeler until I was 9.
I wasnt too afraid of stuff as a kid – except heights – afraid then, and afraid now!!
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By Lacey Bean on 04.23.10 9:06 am | Permalink
Your new bike is so lovely!
I used to love riding my bike absolutely everywhere as a kid, but once I outgrew it as a teenager, I didn’t bother getting a new one. I’m too scared to ride on the roads! I don’t mind the residential streets, but if I want to actually get anywhere (and since I live downtown), I have to go on big busy roads, and that scares me. I’m big baby like that. I’d rather just walk!
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By Angela on 04.23.10 9:17 am | Permalink
I love your bike! I didn’t learn to ride a bike until I was in third grade either – actually, I think it was the summer between third and fourth grade. I’ve always been more afraid of failure than whatever it is I’m actually trying to do – I wanted to ride the bike but I didn’t want to fall off it, know what I mean? I’m still like that, I still hate learning new things (unless I’m good at them right away, of course!) – but I think I’m making progress
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By Holly on 04.23.10 9:21 am | Permalink
My sister was a late-biker as well – she was 16! Unfortunately when she was just at that age where bike riding started to become cool with all her friends she got run down by someones’ older brother on a bike (he wasn’t going fast, but it still knocked her over). It seriously took her years to be able to be on the same street as a bike without breaking into a sweat.
Congrats on your new bike – its awesome!
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By moardy on 04.23.10 10:50 am | Permalink
I was afraid of escalators as a kid. I had a dream once that I was sucked inside of one, and after that I refused to ride one. I also got my finger stuck in the conveyor belt in the grocery line.
Enjoy your bike! She’s a beauty
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By Stevie on 04.23.10 11:34 am | Permalink
My boyfriend just taught me how to ride a bike a few months ago.
I’m 17.
THANKS FOR MAKING ME FEEL BETTER!
Just kidding, of course.
I’m now pretty much in love with bikes, and I can’t wait until I can buy my own.
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By Katie. on 04.23.10 4:34 pm | Permalink
i learned how to ride when i was young then forgot then learned again, then had a horrific experience when i was 16 and haven’t really been back on a bike since. yeah i’m a huge weirdo. but i love your bike, haha.
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By katelin on 04.23.10 4:43 pm | Permalink
love the new bike. i think matt and i might need to invest in some cruisers like that.
your bike history made me smile because bike riding did not come naturally for me either.
in 1st grade, chris and libby bought me a bike.
i cried and said ‘but i didn’t want one.’
so mike (at age) got on it and was awesome immediately.
the shame of that was enough motivation for me to attempt to learn.
your ‘ride, get off, turn around, get on, ride, repeat’ was my strategy for {too many} years.
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By Jill on 04.23.10 6:00 pm | Permalink
That’s the cutest bike in the world! I’m such a klutz, so I don’t think biking is my thing–I’m also terrified of not being able to hear oncoming cars.
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By Her on 04.23.10 9:34 pm | Permalink
I luuuurvvee your bike! I just posted a blog the other day about how I am dying for a bike! Gah!
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By Alyssa on 04.23.10 11:15 pm | Permalink
That’s a cute bike!
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By Karen on 04.24.10 3:41 am | Permalink
OMG Amy! How are we the same person!? Well, sort of. While everyone and their mom learned to ride a bike with great enthusiasm straight out of the vag, I didn’t get my first bike until I was 8 as well — and the same Christmas, I got a pair of rollerblades. And after pedaling four feet and falling on my ass while a bunch of three year olds whizzed past me, I stuck to the roller blades.
Which means that I’m 27 years old and.. the thought of trying to ride forward on a bike is both exciting (we’re nabbing me one this weekend) and HORRIFYING. Plus, being only 4’10″ with most of that NOT leg, the only way to be on a bike and still be able to lean to one side to touch the cement? Yes. That’s right. I’ll be rollin’ down the block on something with tassels and butterfly stickers.
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By Brittney on 04.24.10 8:58 am | Permalink
I used to have a pretty tremendous fear of most things as a child.. I was a wimp and a scaredy cat ha ha.. I actually still have not learned to ride a bike yet.. Definitely on my bucket list.
Best,
Hannah Katy
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By Hannah Katy on 04.24.10 1:07 pm | Permalink
I’m pretty sure I will kill myself the first time I try to ride my bike in this city…
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By Suburban Sweetheart on 04.25.10 8:26 pm | Permalink
I didn’t learn how to ride until I was 9. My younger cousin (who was 7) had to teach me. Kind of embarrassing. I like your new bike though, it’s wicked adorable!
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By Jenna on 04.26.10 5:35 am | Permalink
I am in love with your bike! So pretty!!
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By Life of a Doctor's Wife on 04.26.10 11:30 am | Permalink
I’m jealous of your awesome bike. that’s the kind i want.
I was afraid of a lot less as a kid than i’m afraid of now.
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By Kim on 04.26.10 11:34 am | Permalink
What a pretty bike. I kind of feel your pain with the whole riding a bike as a kid thing. Turning corners was serious, Man. When I was first learning to ride a bike I tured it down a corner aaannnd straight into a bush. It was really in there. Like the whole front wheel and handlebars were in the bush. To make it worse, the neighbor lady was sitting on her front stoop and just laughed at me.
Who am I kidding? If I saw some kid run their bike into a bush I’d laugh too.
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By Melissa Oklahoma on 04.26.10 5:11 pm | Permalink
Okay, I can TOTALLY relate. I hated riding bikes when I was a kid. Let’s just say there were traumatic experiences involved. And the death knell tolled when I fell into a cement ditch while stopping my bike. I know…. just let that image sink in. I was stopped. And I just tipped over, bike and all, into a cement ditch. Yeah… I know. My broken arm was the last straw I tell ya!
And thus ended my bicycle riding days.
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By Jules on 04.29.10 1:39 am | Permalink
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