Do you remember the first time you rode a bicycle by yourself?
I do.
Being the last kid in the family, all I ever got was hand-me-downs. And the bicycles they gave me were either too big or too wonky for me. Thus, making the idea of training wheels too far-fetched for someone who couldn’t even get the right sized bicycles.
So how does a 5-year-old learn to ride with all these obstacles?
Well, I got a cheaper resource to help me out… humans! Yeah! Anybody who was big enough to prevent me from falling was tasked to teach me. We would rent a small bicycle for 2Rs/hour and take that for a ride. The person behind me would always ask me to look straight ahead and ride. Apparently, that’s supposed to help you balance. What a stupid advice! What they never understood was that it doesn’t matter that I look straight. I still went in a curved direction. So while the bicycle goes out of control and turns, I still stare straight ahead, almost willing the bicycle to change its course with just my gaze. But it never helped. I don’t know who came up with this stupid advice to look straight, but take it from me, it doesn’t work like that!
So, if you couldn’t find me on the road cycling, be assured that I’ve found my way to the gutter.
Now, all my failed attempts at balancing a bicycle had led me to loathe riding. The amount of times I had fallen in the roadside gutter is honestly shameful. I think this is part of the reason I never really learned to drive other vehicles. I mean, if I can’t ride the most basic thing, then who can trust me to ride something more complicated, right? Anyway, it took me 12 years of life to realise that with the right-sized bicycle, my legs can reach the ground, and that I can balance with them if I ever feel like I’m falling. Could you believe it?! My legs could’ve been my training wheels the whole time! And the true MVP in this scene is that aunty who pointed it out. Oh, you should’ve seen the joy in my face when I learnt I couldn’t really fall. I rode the bicycle like I owned it.
That reminds me, this wasn’t my bicycle either. All these years have passed and I have still never owned a bicycle of my own. Truly saddening.
I can never forget that day. For the longest time, I believed I was cursed at riding bicycles. But that day, when I could balance, when I could ride straight ahead even without looking in that direction, when I could look at the freaking sunset while riding in a slope-y parking lot- that day was the highest point of my life. Truly. At least, that’s how I felt then. I wouldn’t say that for sure now.
Would love to know what your experience of riding a bicycle was. Share your story in the comment section below. 🙂