Riding A Bike

Who Says That You Never Forget How

It wasn’t my idea. Let’s get that straight from the outset. Riding a bike at age 75 after an almost thirty-year hiatus was not on my bucket list or any list of mine at all. Even back then, riding alongside my three oldest children and my wife, it was a bit nerve-wracking. Riding now is just plain scary.

Here is the context. My wife had asked for a new bicycle as a combined birthday-Christmas gift right before the pandemic turned the world upside down. She rode out a few times and then Covid happened. The bike was put on the backburner. In recent months she has ventured forth again on her bike. She was motivated by a desire to have something that she could do with two of our grandsons, who recently received new bikes and were hesitant to ride. One of the boys quickly became an avid rider and cruised alongside my wife. His older brother, not wanting to be left out, learned to ride as well. There was one last holdout, me, myself, and I. Oh, it was all low pressure at the beginning. “Would you think about riding my old bike if I got it tuned up?” My wife asked. I agreed to give it some thought. Next thing I know, a hitch was added to our car so that then a bike rack could be attached to that, one that would hold four bikes.

Finally, now that we had the bikes(she did have her old bike fixed up for me), and the means to transport them, next came: “How about bringing our bikes when we visit the boys next Tuesday?”

Tuesday found me bike at hand, with helmet on, heart racing, cursing myself for being so stupid for what I was about to do. The result? I’m at least able to write about it, so no serious injury occurred. Was it a great success and something that I would now eagerly look forward to repeating? No. Every turn was made with trepidation. I screamed at corners that demanded sharp turns.

I survived.

Two weeks later, we did it again, but this time we ventured forth to a state forest that had miles and miles of paved and unpaved roads. We kept to the paved roads, for which I was duly grateful. There was even one unforeseen encounter that lifted our spirits. We saw a deer, not unusual in itself, but what was surprising was that as we approached her, she didn’t scurry away. We even got within ten feet of her when we realized why she had stayed. Looking closely, we could see a baby deer that she was obviously guarding.

All in all, I have to admit, the bike rides were not a horrible experience. I wouldn’t call them a rousing success either since my body didn’t seem to remember all that well what it was supposed to do. And please will the people who manufacture bikes, put more padding in the seats. What was nice, however, was being able to do something with our grandsons while they are still at an age when they are not embarrassed being seen biking with their Grammy and Papa. So I guess there will be more bike rides in my future until the inevitable fall occurs, or maybe, just maybe, I actually improve my riding skills.