
20 Nov Realizations
I picked up the bike off the ground and just started to ride. I wouldn’t say it was graceful at first, but I was only eleven or twelve at the time of my first bike ride. My center of balance was way off – I can still see myself leaning to one side and the bike going toward the opposite directions. For several hours, I was all over the place, and not the graceful kind of riding you imagine, I mean I was ALL OVER THE PLACE, crashing, braking, meandering, and falling. After an hour of chaos, I knew I wanted a bike. It was one of my best riding ever, just sheer joy.
I didn’t become some avid cyclist the day after wanting a bike so badly. Cycling was second thought in my mind. Yes, I got a bike (good ole Huffy mountain bike from Toys ‘R’ Us), which I believe I thrashed within a couple of years. Again, cycling was never really a thought and maintaining the bike never occurred to me. Cycling, in my mind, was a device to just take me from one familiar point to another. I joined the Boy Scout of America and received another sweet ride (Schwinn MTN) for one of our outings to Long Beach. It was my first fifty-mile ride, this time to a foreign place via the LA River Path. I can still hear myself huffing and puffing and whining all the way to our destination. Even though my first ride was pure agony, I do believe an idea was implanted in my head, the idea to tour with my bike to unknown destinations.
Several years ago I was reintroduced to cycling again. My brother-in-law got into cycling in a really big way, to a point where he eventually sold his car and his bikes became his only mode of transportation. I doubt I can ever get into cycling like my brother-in-law has, but I am always right there to lend a hand and tackle the journeys that come our way.
Bunny de Krieger
Posted at 14:16h, 20 NovemberI believe you were younger than 11 or 12 when you and Sang Tae got your first bike. I have to check the photo album. I am proud of you and your accomplishments. Keep it going! AND, it is healthy for you also.