Friday, February 1, 2013

Fifty Fridays #25

Bicycles.  Every kid wants to ride one when they see the bigger ones flying by.  I can remember how I longed for a bike when I was about seven.  That's when my best friend got hers.  She could whiz down the road so fast!  She tried to teach me and I remember ending up in a ditch.  Terrified that I had broken her bike.  Even more terrified to try again.  Our bikes then were very big for our size and we could just reach the pedals enough to make them work.  The rider had to sit up straight to hold the handlebars.  Hardly surprising that balance was difficult to achieve. But I did learn to ride.  And I did - and do - enjoy that flying sensation.

My mother loved her bike as well.  I know there was a photo of Mom as a teenager standing by her bike but I don't seem to have it.  She spent some time one summer cycling from Weymouth to Wolfeville.  It must have been a huge adventure.  I remember - vaguely - her telling me about it.  The story that sticks more in my mind is the one which explained the tiny blue dots that she had under the skin of one knee.  When she was little and learning to ride, she ran into a  parked car and fell on the road.  The dots were grit left in her leg.  I'm pretty sure she told me the story to comfort me when I thought I would never get the hang of bikes. And to encourage me to get up and try again.


As you can see, my mother loved to get on a bike from a very early age.  Here she is with her three big brothers: Howard, Seymour and Ira.  No chance of falling with that much support.  I believe the photo was taken in or around Pugwash given its farm-like setting.    I'm just not sure and there's no indication on the back of the picture. 

I always think of bikes and spring together.  Somehow, the weather is better for bike riding then.  There was no riding in the rain when I was a girl.  Of course, as I remember my childhood, there were no rainy days.  Fog, yes.  Snow, yes.  But no rain.  Really.  And I grew up in and around Vancouver..my memory must be very selective.

7 comments:

Annie Jeffries said...

I didn't have a bike for about 25 years, Stephanie. Then I got the idea, a few years ago, to buy a bike. I picked one up at Target and proceeded to TRY to ride the darn thing. One month later, I was still a total scaredy cat trying to actually get ON the bike. My sense of balance was totally shot. I did get up eventually and then took a few trips to the store and back. Just when I started feeling fairly confident on a bike, the tire went flat. I fixed it. It went flat again. That was it. Enough was enough. I gave the bike away. My fancied love affair with bikes was so DONE.

Empty Nester said...

I loved my bicycles through the years too. I remember the falls and how grateful that mine weren't near as bad as some of the ones my 3 brothers took. But then, I was a daredevil NOT an idiot. LOL Maybe it was the same way for your mom with her 3 brothers- :)

Susan Kane said...

I love the 'blue dots' detail. Nothing like some good gravel to remind you that gravity is a real force.

Angie said...

Still loving your old photos! Great name - Pugwash!!!

SueH said...

They say you never forget how to ride a bicycle - although in my case is was SO long ago.......!

Love the old photos - just this week I was given some photos of me as a small child which I'd never ever seen before! Such a surprise - and one was of me on a bike!

I hope you don't mind - I've included your blog in an award here - feel free to participate or decline as you choose! :-)

Mimi said...

We always had lots of bikes around our house, being that we lived a mile from the town. But, I never owned my own bike until I was 25! Then, I loved to cycle out to the Shannon on a summer's evening, a round trip of 16 miles, with my brother. I remember those evenings fondly now.
Love your Mom's blue pebbles story. My Mom's story was of cycling to and from her nursing job (night duty!), a round trip of 25 miles! Yikes, kids nowadays have it so easy!

Anonymous said...

My weather memory is selective too, I can't remember the rain either.

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