Old Dogs, Old Tricks

In days long gone my sister and I shared a bicycle. Later we also had a second one so we rode quite a bit all over the farm, down the road to the silo, over the hill to an aunt and uncle's house. Since Bill and I married, I've probably ridden once--years ago! I haven't missed it, I guess. Lately my sister-in-law, my other brother and his wife, and my husband have taken to bike riding for the exercise. Okay. I can do that. So we shopped for a bike for me.

Twenty-one gears? Shifting? Hand brakes? Low handlebars? Tiny, skinny seat? No, no, no. Too many years on foot or behind the steering wheel! I'll never get the hang of that. As luck would have it, I found just a basic bicycle without gears, without hand brakes, with a w-i-d-e seat, and with normal handlebars at good ol' Wal-mart! I can ride this; it's just like bikes I used to ride. Yea!

I just came inside from trying it out by our garage and out of sight of the neighbors. Though I didn't fall, I found that my balance isn't as good as it used to be, and for some reason the front wheel wants to veer left--into the garage door, into the corner of the house, into the brick pile, into the phone building! I parked it, closed the garage door, and came to hide in the house.