Do you remember your first time ? … I do too even though 61 plus years have passed since that day .
The person responsible for that memorable moment was an older brother of my friend and I clearly recall him tightly gripping my seat and panting as we went faster and faster . It was my first time with out training wheels and had travelled some distance before I realized he had released the seat to watch me pedal away into the beginnings of greater freedom and further travels . His name was Teddy Smith and the bicycle was a green single speed .
The wife once gave that very same memory to a little girl next door . We heard her laughter as she raced her bicycle past our house most every day for years before that family moved away . We don’t see her any more but I do so hope she always remembers that moment and that the bicycle has taken her where mine took me , and that she has continued to laugh .
What started all this rush of memories was brought on by our recent search for replacement bicycles for health and laughs and perhaps more adventures . My very first bike of any kind was a chain driven three wheeler with a lidded storage bin on the back that my Grandfather bought. He had taken me over the road to the bike shop and followed along as I peddaled towards home over the large pavements of that London sidewalk . At the bottom of an incline I failed to make the turn and both the bike and I received the very first scratches of our young lives . My Grandfather righted the bike and used his wonderful Cockney accent to say something he would use to urge me along forever after,
” Right . On yer bike , move along ”
Home was on the second floor of an apartment complex and on day two I had managed to back the bike up to the stairwell and unsuccesfully make it to the bottom providing myself and the bike the second scratches of our young lives …. and of course …. ” Right. On yer bike ”
Maybe I should think about walking shoes …
