Remember when …

24 February, 2009

Remember when you were a kid and you got your first bike?  Do you remember the feeling of freedom that you had when the training wheels came off and you finally didn’t need to have your Dad hold you up as you rode and he ran for all he was worth?  What a feeling that was.  Do you remember going to the corner store on your bike, or perhaps to the local swimming hole or swamp like I did to mess around and hope you didn’t get caught by the “cops”?  Those were great days weren’t they.  If you are like me, and I suspect that you are in at least some small way, your bike was your freedom, it was your transportation.  Of course, you probably didn’t have much choice because at 8 years old there was no way your mother was going to let you drive the station wagon, or if you grew up in the 90′s, the minivan.   Then came the big 16th birthday and you haven’t been on a bike since.  It probably didn’t matter that much when you were in your early twenties and still single.  There is an amazing thing that happens when one finishes college and gets married and starts working for a living.  The gut grows, the muscles get flabby, the couch and the TV become your best friends after spending a long day stuck in that chair and then that seat of your ultra efficient car.   You probably live 30 miles away from your job in some suburb or exurb and there is no choice but to drive 15 miles to the nearest anything except for other tract houses that look remarkably similar to yours, even if they were built by a different company.   Remember when you were a kid?  That bike?  That freedom?  Do you realize that they still make bikes?

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One Response to “Remember when …”

  1. zac Says:

    Great post! These are my exact sentiments when I talk with people on why I ride freedom and fun, (not to mention the awesome factor). There is a funny article in the book Bike Cult on how we love our bikes untill, they are in one day, abondoned for the steel trap, and then for some of us, when we go off to college and are broke we can possibly rediscover that love, even if it is out of necassity. It gives me an idea for a new childrens book instead of The Giving Tree, The Giving Bike.


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