WobbleSTRONG

Yesterday, I went for my first bicycle ride in approximately 15 years. Surprisingly, it wasn't quite as dicey (read: disastrous) as I thought it might be.

As I've shared before on this blog, I grew up in a house on a hill, on a road with no berm. It wasn't exactly the best place to be riding a bicycle. Hence, I never had a bike of my own; I rarely rode, so a hand-me-down bicycle* was good enough. The last time I remember riding a bike at all was when I was 14; I spent the summer babysitting two boys, ages 7 and 9. Their mother had bought us all passes to the local pool and offered up her bicycle for me to ride there. I took it once, but it was such an old, ugly, clunky thing that for the rest of the summer, I walked.

For the past few years, though, I've been thinking about getting a bike to ride around my neighborhood as a way to enjoy the summer sunshine. I went looking once last year, but nothing fruitful came of it, and I kind of set the idea aside until the weather got nice this spring.

Yesterday, I went out looking again. My sister-in-law had encouraged me to try a specialty bicycle shop, because although I may pay more than I'd pay at a chain store, I would get a better product and something more suited to my individual needs, as well. I visited two places, and it seems that all of their "entry level" bicycles had been moved the day before. (I guess I wasn't the only one motivated by the warm, sunny weather this weekend.) I went to a couple of chain stores too, but what I found wasn't a whole lot cheaper, and without someone telling me the difference between this model and that model, I didn't feel comfortable buying something I might not want to use just to save a little money.

Still, after a day of bicycle shopping, I was really in the mood for a ride, so I borrowed my husband's bike and took a half-hour spin around the neighborhood. I was pretty wobbly at first, and a little nervous about steering, braking, etc. I mean, I was half the age I am now last time I took a bike ride. But once I'd gone a block or so, I'd pretty much gotten the hang of things. I'm not exactly ready for the Tour de France (or even the Tour de Tinley), but I got home without cracking my skull, so I'm going to count the outing as a step in the right direction.

*My sister had a beautiful ten-speed racing bike that she got brand new, but the only reason for that was because she had won it in an essay contest. For her essay, she had written about why our family was the healthiest in our county. My parents -- who both smoked at the time -- laughed when our family made the finals, and probably laughed even harder when we won. I'm sure it was my mother's all-five-food-groups-at-the-dinner-table rule (the regular four food groups plus something that goes in a little dish beside your plate) that pushed us over the edge.