Two wheelers, No four wheelers for Joe-Henry

Since it's very early here, and I haven't had coffee, and this little chirpy boy is chattering in my ear about his success on his new* bike without training wheels, and did I mention I haven't had coffee ?, I thought perhaps we could do a brief interview for the blog:

What made you want to ride without training wheels?

I just thought that I could really do it and that just inspired me to try it.

You had your daddy with you. Did he help?

Yes he did, quite a bit. Well, when we were like landing, he had to say "you would have fallen", and I just said "Okay, I'll try not to do that" because sometimes I'd make a steep lean and he just got me before I fell, and that's what I felt like when he caught me.

What did it feel like when you knew you were riding on your own?

When I looked at the two wheelers, well I looked at the front and not the back because I would just go "waaaah!!!!", and you'd have to come get me, I just looked at the front wheel and I said "this feels so great!", and I usually like it when I get things because it feels great and that's just so awesome.

Does it feel as safe without training wheels?
Yes it kinda does, I just pretend I'm on training wheels, but when I lean, I kinda don't think about riding with training wheels and then when I get back on balance, I just think about the training wheels are balancing me and they just don't have crumbs on them and they're not as heavy.

Do you think you can go for long bike rides?
I hope I will be able to as long as I can ride up steep hills and start up hills and downhills better. I just hope that I can do that someday.

What's the best part of riding a two wheeler bike?
Ijust really feel good, and it feels happy to be free, because you're kind of free of the crummy training wheels that make it heavier. It's nice to be showing the world my tricks, but one time I tried to wave and my bell was rotten and dry and yikky, and I tried to push it, but I got kind of off balance, but then I got right back on balance, and that felt pretty good.

When I was riding with training wheels, I really wanted to lean and turn but my training wheels would stop me from doing that, and um, the training wheels were all crummy, so that if both of them touched the ground and I'd go up a super big hill, such as the Red and White Park (the huge hill at the end if you go around the park?), at first I would be like "ugh, ugh, ugh,", but now that I'm not on training wheels anymore, it feels like I'm not even, like I don't even have to peddle when I go up the hill and it's really great to be free, and I felt really proud of my self when my mom and dad would scream like "woooohooo", and it was really hard like starting and stopping. Starting uphill #1 hardest, Starting downhill #2 hardest. At first I was going to go around the big circle again, and I was going to go the other way, and I started from uphill and I was so proud of myself. And I wanted to do it the other way, but I sort of had a break in the middle, not a break, but it was really hard to peddle, and I started from downhill too, and it was hard, and I thought I was going to go zipping, zipping zipping fast, and I kinda put on my foot brakes a little bit, and then I just kinda turned, 'cause before I was on training wheels, and I would slow to almost stopping until I would almost fall, and that was until I learned how to stop myself and put my feet on the bottom, on the ground in other words. So it was really fun to learn to ride my bike without training wheels, and I like it alot better than when I had my training wheels on.

And I can't wait to go again today.

Sunday Morning

Perfection on two wheels. Wheeeeeee!

My New Bike

My Darling Husband, who is just the best at giving gifts that are perfect and surprising, did something rare this weekend. He told me what he was thinking of getting me for our anniversary. He said it was early, and he didn't want to spoil the surprise, but there was a great sale at The Bike Gallery, perhaps the best bike store in all of the nation, or at least in Portland, OR. He had one he thought I'd like, but he wanted to run it by me first.

When we walked into the store on Friday, I was as excited as a little kid. My first bike was a red Schwinn. It had a white basket, and my mom wove yellow plastic flowers into the weave. Taking the training wheels off of that bike was one of the happiest days of my life. I was in second grade, and suddenly had the freedom to ride all the way to the top of our block, and eventually, all the way to the other end of the block, stopping only to show off my bike to admiring neighbors or put treasures (rocks) in my basket.

I've had lots of bikes since, and the one I've had for the last 15 years has served me very well. But I haven't served it well at all. I've ridden it to work a few times, and have trudged along on family rides, bitching all the way about the gears slipping. Have I ever had it serviced? Mmmmmm? Maybe once in fifteen years. But I honestly wasn't looking to replace it. I loved my bike. I loved bitching about it. But my darling husband, who rides his bike almost every day to the train station has been walking in the door looking jubilant and refreshed and fabulous. It's helped his stress, and he's healthier with every mile he puts on it.

So, he convinced me. Plus, did I mention it was a sale? Even a lapsed Lutheran can't resist the irresistible lure of frugality. And this bike.... he'd already sort of picked it out. He'd looked over a few, and showed them to me, but this is what he showed me first, and I didn't even need to look at the others. This was it. It was creamy perfection, with just the right amount of fru-fru embellishment. It had a super comfy wide leather seat and those beautiful matching handlebars. But it wasn't until I took a test drive that I fell, hard and fast. So smooth, with enough gears to get me up the hills I'll encounter every day on my way to work. Add to that the fact that the bell, kickstand and bottle holder (plus bottle) were all included, and the fenders I'll surely need for rainy NW weather, plus the rack on the back to add my panniers for trips to the grocery store were added there in the store for a pittance, and I'm just swooning.

I can't say enough about the service at the Bike Gallery, too. Most of the staff have been with them off and on for years. As our lovely sales guy Nicko said with a big grin "You can't ever leave for good. They just keep pulling you back." He himself had worked there for years, now working full time at another fabulous Portland institution, but coming back to work sales on weekends, because, well, I think he just really loved it. You can tell they treat their employees well - everyone there just seemed really content and happy. Even the uber-hip Portland types broke into a grin when you spoke to them.

So now, it's time to ride. The road beckons....

Ding Ding!