Tricycle to bicycle - six short decades

Tricycle to bicycle in just 6 short decades - I mean, who knew?  

About a year ago I was at a workshop retreat session participating in an exercise to engage sensory perception, along with movement and memory.  Vividly recalling a childhood event with joy and action, I had my body careening around the workshop space in an energetic re-enactment of me  on my childhood bicycle.  

Bicycle memories flooded to the surface of my memory as from about fourth grade up until maybe ninth, I loved the freedom of riding my bike - in the neighborhood to friends' houses, to school, home for lunch, back to school for a quick game of softball - the bike was my mode of transport; that is until it was replaced by the empowerment of age 16 and my driver's license.   After that, I expect the bike was in the garage for a while until my mother sold it - (she had a pattern of quickly selling anything that was no longer useful in her opinion) to one's everyday life.

Back to the workshop experience, I was so moved by the memory exercise that I started immediately planning a summer bike purchase.  Then the doubt began to set in - what if I couldn't really ride that well anymore, or what if I took a spill, or a car hit me, or that ugly helmet that's now a real requirement for bike riding  kept my hair a mess all of the time?  I didn't need a bike or even really want a bike, probably I just imagined that fun more brilliantly than it had ever been....probably, maybe.

So that bike was NOT purchased last year and it seemed no big loss; EXCEPT, the bike thing kept coming back to me and particularly after a session with my friend and coach, Tonya, when we had discussed decision making out of fear versus out of confidence and love.  So, of course, you can probably guess the ending to this little story.  My spouse and I made a "just looking" trip to the bike shop on Saturday.  A soft spoken, knowledgeable, could answer all my questions young guy came out to the bike showroom and asked me questions about how I would be using a bike - did I want comfort and/or speed, mountain biking, strolling - did I want something a little on the "edge" in order to push me a little farther in line with more experience after I had it for a while?  He picked out a couple of bikes he thought seemed appropriate to my answers, suggested I take them for a spin and launched me out the door.

I must say that my mouth was dry, I felt somewhat uneasy as I flung that right leg over the saddle like I was getting on a horse and then I was "there" ......  even as I felt that first couple of pedals, I knew that "the bike thing" was real. There was nothing to fear about what other people might think of me purchasing a bike at my age (yes, I had thought about that), it was unlikely I would be risking myself with daredevil trick riding, nor group racing any time soon. There was nothing to be done but to get on with it.  So after decades of not being on a bicycle except for a couple of short days on a vacation years ago, my beautiful new bike is in the garage and will be out today for its second spin.  The first one was the afternoon of the purchase and I was in position two, spouse in the lead.  Today, it'll be me, my bike, and the helmet, of course:)  No doubt there'll be a photo here soon of all three elements of the seamless rider and her equipment!

So, anything you haven't done in decades that you're considering taking up again or trying for the first time?  I'd love to hear about it and remember, often things that one might not have thought possible can and do happen.......usually all it takes is one's decision to make it so.


Photo - Sunrise Sister tiny age 4?, on her huge tricycle - very happy!