The Re-beggining of a Beautiful Friendship

I was reunited with an old friend today....

My bike.

We used to be pretty tight in middle school, but we'd had a falling out of sorts in ninth grade. Mandatory and unreasonably demanding phys ed classes, as well as my conviction that bike helmets were dorky looking had driven a wedge between us. By the time I returned home from three mentally challenging courses and one physically challenging phys ed class (which, for me was more like a torture session because I have a lung condition that makes me tire from physical activity more easily than most), I was just too exhausted to have any desire to invest time in our friendship. For two long years, I endured this, and my bike and I grew further and further apart, until on the last day of phys ed 10, I literally skipped and danced out of the gymnasium as I silently vowed never to put my body through anything like that again.

For three more years, I kept that vow, avoiding excercise more often then not, even though I knew doing so is unhealthy. My attitude was excersise, die eventually anyway, so what's the point? Today, however, I had an epiphany. My biggest joy in life is singing, and I am doing next to nothing to persue that hobby at the moment. Sure, I occasionally volunteer my voice at church, but I know I could be doing so much more. If I could just get in shape, I could hold notes for longer and perform for longer in general without getting tired (not that a Church service is long enough to tire me out, but hey, why not work toward more endurance?). Now I had a motive to try to get fit, but how?

Then it hit me: the purple mountain bike, still faithfully waiting on the wall in the shed. It just so happened that my dad was cleaning the shed out today, so I got him to take out my bike, put air in the tires, and adjust the seat an handlebars for the considerable amount of growth I'd experienced since our last meeting. As we fixed her up, I noticed that she'd done some aging, too. Rust coated areas that were once silver, the gears were coated in dust, and the sticker was starting to dissintegrate. But, despite those mere cosmetic flaws, she was exactly how I remembered her.

So, I took a deep breath, found a helmet that sort of seemed to fit me, cued up my ipod to a song that's been stuck in my head, and prepared to relearn how to ride a bike.

My bike was none too pleased by my previous abandonnment, and she let me know it. I wobbled, nearly fell, slammed the hand breaks, and accidently switched gears to the toughest one to pedal. Some kids were playing at the nearby park, bikes parked nearby. Wobbling past them was pretty awkward, especially when one was walking towards me trying not to laugh as I struggled not to fall over. "It's my first time riding a bike in years!"  I explained with a laugh, trying not to show my extreme embarrassment over my pathetic lack of athleticism.

After botching the first trip to the nearest cul-de-sac, it (thankfully) started to get easier. I rode past the park without struggling and made it uphill back to my house. I was so on top of the world at not having completely wiped out that I decided to do it again. By the end of the second lap, I was even able to go fast!

Memories of being a kid and having freshly removed the training wheels flodded back. A whole new world was opening up: I could ride to work, to my friend's house, to the park, to the grocery store, to work...well, maybe not, as it is a twenty minute drive away. It was weird, because there is really nowhere I could bike that it wouldn't be easier to jump in my car and drive to, but it still felt really good to know that I still had it...

I'd heard people say that you never really forget to ride a bike, but it sure felt good to find out that there was some truth to that saying! I'm really excited to get back into biking this Summer! :)