Recently, I tried something I haven’t tried in years. I fall into what you might classify as the “late bloomer” category when it comes to bike riding. I was 8 years old before I was off training wheels and even then I was never extremely comfortable sitting atop two wheels. I did well enough to sort of keep up with my friends, but I was never the initiator of a bike ride. I was always nervous someone would notice my bicycling deficit and I’d lose face with my peers.
To add insult to injury in my bicycling history, I received an actual injury. On my 13th birthday I crashed on my brand new mountain bike and had to get four stitches just hours before my birthday party.
Still, I soldiered on, even attempting a mountain biking trip to Brian Head with a friend in my later high school years. I can still feel the fear rising up in my stomach when I remember enduring that experience. Suffice it to say it was a very long day as I shakily traversed what seemed to be monumental mountain biking hills. In truth, I’m sure these tracks were for beginners. But in my mind, you’ve never seen such treacherous terrain.
Some years later, I was called upon to write a story for St. George Magazine on mountain biking for beginners. They couldn’t have picked a more appropriate candidate to write a first-person experience piece. I was a beginner in every sense of the word. Including first-time jitters. Truly, few things have made me more nervous in my professional career — and this is coming from a woman who once voluntarily jumped out of an airplane for the sake of the job.
Thank goodness my friend, who also happened to work at the Bicycles Unlimited bike shop in town, was completely patient, helpful and professional — not at all the teasing, jeering boy of my anxious pre-ride nightmares.
Fast-forward 13 years and, despite the positive experience of that work-related ride, I haven’t been on a bike since. I don’t own one, so it’s easy to avoid. But there are few things so motivating as the little voices of your children.
For a while now our kids have been asking if mom and dad can go on a bike ride with them. My children — who will never know the social shame of being an incompetent bike rider, considering they were riding confidently without training wheels by the age of 5 and 3 ½ — really don’t know what they’re asking me. And yet, my husband and I have talked many times about how fun it might be to be a “biking family.” I mean, when you live in an area rife with the kinds of fantastic bike paths as we have it seems foolish not to at least try them out.
So, we called upon our bike shop friend again. This time, he graciously lent us two bikes so we could dip our toes in the water.
It was Memorial Day weekend and we headed out for our first family ride.
I was a little unsure if the old adage, “It’s just like riding a bike” would ring true, but in fact it did. With only minor wobbling I situated myself on the seat and made a loop around our neighborhood park to stretch my legs. With cautious optimism, I called out to my children, seeking the approval that only a 7- 4- and 2-year old can give to their mom. Smiles filled their faces and, as my husband went through a similar re-acquaintance process with his bike, we were off.
There is something utterly freeing about riding a bicycle. The wind in your face. The childlike glee of whooshing down a steep hill… the humility of trying to heave yourself up the other side of that hill. It was all better than I remembered.
Maybe I’ve changed. I mean, I certainly wasn’t there to impress anyone. I knew my adoring family fan-club would love me even if I wasn’t the best cyclist around. But it was more than that. It was a little like conquering a nagging fear that has been part of me for so long.
Since then, my husband and I decided we’d like to own our own bike. Just one to share for now while we see how often we use it. With a bicycle trailer on the back for our 2-year-old, and the cheerful whoops of delight from our older two children, I have continued facing my childhood biking fear — hoping at some point I’ll be good enough on two wheels to forget this was ever a part of my past.
What sort of fears has parenthood encouraged/forced you to face? Share on social media or send your comments and personal stories here or in the comments section below.
