this morning i hopped on my bike to start my daily commute toward the max, and really started tearing down the road, taking sharp turns where i'm leaning over so far my knee is almost touching the ground.
i love that feeling.
when i was a kid, i seriously used to bike 6 hours a day. I would get home from school, burn through my homework, call up some neighborhood friends, and bike until a few hours after dark. on weekends, i would watch an hour or two of game shows or stand up comedy, eat, then start my biking for the day, usually around 10 hours, unless we ended up at a friend's house that had a trampoline. we had a bike club that we had initiation for, with ridiculous tasks like biking down this one alleyway that was basically an unpaved mountainside between houses, and jousting on a bridge over a dried up river.
then we'd all go home and drink about 3 gallons of soda, play some video games, and pass out.
i love that feeling.
--epilogue--
when i turned 16, i learned to drive, and never had any use for my bike anymore. my parents ditched their all-white bikes they had since the 70s (one still had a babyseat on it i used to sit in while they biked), co-opted mine, and bought another one. my dad is an impulse-buying machine, so he tricked out my old bike with grips, lights, computer, etc.
when i moved to pdx, i learned it was a biking town, so i strapped my bike onto the back of my car and took it out here. i finally live close enough to bike to work every day, and i love it.
i still have the exact same bike i got for my 13th birthday, and the very first time i sat on it out here, all the old feelings came rushing back.
i love that feeling.
when i was a kid, i seriously used to bike 6 hours a day. I would get home from school, burn through my homework, call up some neighborhood friends, and bike until a few hours after dark. on weekends, i would watch an hour or two of game shows or stand up comedy, eat, then start my biking for the day, usually around 10 hours, unless we ended up at a friend's house that had a trampoline. we had a bike club that we had initiation for, with ridiculous tasks like biking down this one alleyway that was basically an unpaved mountainside between houses, and jousting on a bridge over a dried up river.
then we'd all go home and drink about 3 gallons of soda, play some video games, and pass out.
i love that feeling.
--epilogue--
when i turned 16, i learned to drive, and never had any use for my bike anymore. my parents ditched their all-white bikes they had since the 70s (one still had a babyseat on it i used to sit in while they biked), co-opted mine, and bought another one. my dad is an impulse-buying machine, so he tricked out my old bike with grips, lights, computer, etc.
when i moved to pdx, i learned it was a biking town, so i strapped my bike onto the back of my car and took it out here. i finally live close enough to bike to work every day, and i love it.
i still have the exact same bike i got for my 13th birthday, and the very first time i sat on it out here, all the old feelings came rushing back.
VIEW 6 of 6 COMMENTS
good thing I'm still 13.
i was never much for bikes, but trampolines! we used to sneak into this group home's yard - they had a ground-level trampoline: run run run, boing!
[Edited on Sep 15, 2003]