My 1st Bike Ride (Personal Narrative #1)

 

In the summer of 2008, I was 5 years old and getting ready for my kindergarten school year. Before that, however, I had a big challenge to take on… I had to learn how to ride a bike.

The wind blew at my back as I zoomed down my long driveway in Webberville, Michigan. I felt like I was flying on my bike and made sure to look both ways before turning on the road. The rattling of my training wheels echoed across the entire neighborhood. I leaned and turned right and smoothly transition from my bumpy driveway to the smooth road.

This is way easier than I thought it would be, I thought to myself. Little did I know that things would get a lot harder.

Fast forward a year later and sweat is dripping from my temple as I pulled over to the side of the road waiting for my Mom, Dad, and our dog, Apollo, to catch up to me.

“Do you want to try it without training wheels?” my Mom asked.

“Yes please,” I said trying to contain my excitement. This was the time for me to transition to a big kid. I’ll finally be able to go as fast as my friends can on their bikes. My dad took a few minutes to take off my training wheels and I was all ready to go.

“Are you ready?”

“Yup!” I exclaimed.

My mom fastened my helmet with a nervous look and then gave me a nod of approval. I took a deep breath and put my right foot on the pedal and pushed. I started moving and quickly got my left foot up and was moving. The only issue was that I was actively moving towards a ditch. I was too scared to press my foot to the ground and was shaking and completely out of control of the bike. My front tire leaves the road and hits the grassy surface and I feel the whole bike shake. CRASH!

I had a lot of work to do.