Since outgrowing my hot pink childhood bicycle at the age of 11, I have spent very little time bicycling. I think I had one unfortunate ride in middle school where the under-inflated inner tube of my older sister's bike popped out of the tire, resulting in 13-year old me being forced to drag it home. Figuring that this incident was likely a fluke, I tried riding the same bike again my freshman year of college with eerily similar results (the only difference being that this time I ended up dragging the bike across an unfamiliar campus at 3am). Who would have guessed that letting a broken bike sit motionless outside for 5 years wouldn't automatically fix its problems? Aren't the great outdoors supposed to be rejuvenating? I even attempted fixing my bike that time, but while working on it (or more accurately, staring at it quizzically), a number of insects and spiders flew/crawled out of the tire and attacked me (or more accurately, existed in my general vicinity). Thus ended any desire I had to ride a bicycle.
Fast forward four years. I graduated college and was living in San Antonio. I was trying to get healthy, and figured that a good way to do that would be biking around town. My boyfriend even let me borrow his mountain bike! I was so excited that I kind of tricked out the bike with an awesome basket (hand-decorated) and a bell (that wouldn't fit on my bike, but sounds awesome when I ring it in my room). For some reason, though, Jason was against me painting his bike pink. Unfortunately, my first and only attempt at riding it to dinner was fraught with terror. My apartment was situated as such that I couldn't get anywhere without basically taking a highway entrance ramp. That went up a steep hill. And had absolutely no lighting (on the bright side, the service at IHOP was slow so I had ample time to catch my breath and regain my wits). I decided that biking near my apartment was too treacherous, and waited until I moved back home to touch my bicycle.
Since moving back, I have actually been riding it semi-regularly (3 times in the past 3 months... so maybe not that regularly)! The first couple trips were just to my neighborhood grocery store, but this past Sunday, I actually rode all the way to and from my friend Kim's house (a total distance of about 7.5 miles). It was very exciting, not terrifying, and actually pretty fun! Kim even joined me on the trip back to my house! The best part about it was that now knowing that the distance/route are not dangerous or out of my realm, so many options are open to me (she lives really close to a Target and a Chili's). I also am now more confident in my ability to ride without embarrassing myself, running into people/cars/trees, or falling over! For this reason, Maddie and I have decided to go to a nearby lake with a 9 mile bike path around it this Saturday and spend the day biking (or "cycling," as Maddie so informed me it is called) and slacklining with a bunch of our friends! I can't wait!
How has your experience with cycling been? What is your stance on the debate of whether to call people bikers or cyclists? Do you know of a good hot pink bike I could get that would fit both my basket AND bell on the handlebars? Do I use exclamation points too much?
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