Biking and Me

You guys remember Big Wheels, right? When I was little I had one, and it was black and red and that make me feel like a badass 'cause those were boy colors. And of course I turned it over and cranked the pedal by hand and called out that I was selling ice cream - because that's what you did.

At some point, I wound up with a kid's bike, girl colors this time, with pink spoke covers. I got paid five cents by my mom every time I wore my helmet, and was docked five cents when I didn't. When I have kids, I can just threaten them with having to pay the fine that would be leveled at them/me when they don't wear their helmets.

I biked up and down my street all the time. On the sidewalk. It was just a block, so to lengthen the trip I used to make loops in everyone's driveways, if there were no cars parked. Once I miscalculated the loop and banged straight into someone's garage door. I took off and tried to look nonchalant.

At some point my mom decided I wasn't allowed to bike out of her view, although I'd done that many times before. Maybe there was some sort of kidnapper alert she didn't explain. Anyway, I decided it was a ridiculous rule, and I flaunted it by biking up the block, out of site, and then settling in for a nice sit at ... well, it was like just a trench for water that was mostly fenced in. And I sat there. And when I got home I was grounded for the first and only time in my life.

In middle school I outgrew my old bike (my knees were hitting the handlebars) and so we went and bought me a new one. My dad said he was only willing to buy me the fancy one if I promised I would someday be riding it around Stanford (sigh - pressure much?).

That didn't happen for two reasons: one - it was stolen my freshman year of high school, and two - I didn't go to Stanford. But I'm getting ahead of myself. After the bike was stolen from the bike lot at school, I used a bike that had been left at the house we'd bought. It was yellow. It was big enough. It was fine. I used it often, until I could drive to school.

I went off to college without a bike. My campus wasn't really big enough to need it, you could walk from one side to the other in ten to fifteen minutes, and parking wasn't really that bad.

I didn't bike again until I went to Japan in my sophomore year. Everyone used bikes. No one wore helmets. That part was terrifying.

Then again no biking until I went to Austria at the age of 23. Again no helmets. And just one quick trip.

Then more of the no biking until I was 25. I was living less than a mile from work and it seemed silly not to. So I bought a $50 bike off of Craigslist from a lovely Swedish woman who was going back to her country.

I biked to work while I was there, so a little over a year. Then I worked three miles away from home, and so I would often bike or take the bus. Then that job moved closer to me, so it was a little more than a mile. At that job they had a 'bike to work day' so I went and asked if they could put the handlebars up for me. They said they were already up - the bike was too big for me.

Then I started working at a different job, one that required the subway to get there. I could bike to the subway - but that adds on to an already long commute. But! I did purchase a used bike that was more my size, and gave my old bike to my boyfriend. It fits him well.

I need to bike more often - it will be easier and more enticing when it stays light after five. Maybe we'll go out for a ride on Sunday.