Riding bikes

I used to have a 12 speed, so biking was fun, easy and netted me shoplifted goods. Now I have a P.O.S. 10 speed that won't get into gear. No more pleasant biking memories for me.

I always loved riding my bike and I'm even including the time that my front tire went flat. I repaired it all by myself and when I popped a wheelie at the end of the driveway the wheel kept going down the road. I went over the handlebars after the forks hit the ground. I must say that I learned a valuable lesson about double checking things after that.

Well, its like a rite of passage..... learning to ride a bike. Gave you something to do, during the long summer months

When I was growing up the bicycle was more than a mode of transportation or type of sporting equipment, it was freedom. As soon as the snow melted in April my friends and I would get out our bikes, pump up the tires, oil up the chains and take to the road. The best basketball courts were on the grounds of a private school a few blocks away, so that was where we'd head to play. As we got older the perimeter of our travels expanded, the river bank a mile away, the monkey trails through the forrests around the city park, clay tennis courts on the other side of town and eventually even downtown to hang out. There were a couple of hundred undeveloped acres of property right behind my suburban street back in the 1960's. It was full of criss crossing footpaths that my frineds and I used to turn into a motocross course (for bicyles) and build jumps and gulleys, hairpin turns and obstacles. Pure adventure. And at every baseball and football practice and game, on the sideline was a hu... Read more

My favorite place to bike to was where the old covered bridge used to be down by the creek that was about a mile and a half or so from my house. The bridge had been out for years, but there was a crossing there with a bunch of extra gravel that farmers had put there so they could get across. I'd go down there and play for a half hour or so, and then ride back. Riding bikes was never as much fun when my little brother and sister went along, because I had to ride slower and watch out for them.

We used to ride our bikes everywhere when I was a kid. Back then, you could actually ride a bike without looking like a homosexual reject from a Star Wars convention.

I still like to ride a bike. It's good exercise.

Riding my bike was one of the times as a kid that I felt the most freedom. It allowed me to explore all over my neighborhood and town either on my own or with my brother and friends. This was definitely a big part of my childhood.

What kid didn't?

I have the scars to prove it :) Good times...

Ok, to my own dissapointment I didn't know how to ride a bike until I was 16. I know I know it's late, but I was always the one who believed that better late than never.

The first taste of freedom and independence!  Riding a bike is a liberating experience at any age.  It is the fastest we can go under our own power.  My eleven year old came in from a spur-of-the-moment ride a few days ago and said "I just wanted to remember how it feels."  Amen.  I still do over 50 miles a week at nearly 50 years of age.  I pretend it is for exercise but the thrill is still there everytime I leave the driveway.

Not really, couldn't ride a bike then, can't really ride one now.

...and jumping them.

Still fun.I remember how proud I was when my Dad took off the training wheels.My first bike,which I had well into my teens ( I rode it until I got my first car,in fact) was a huffy with a banana seat-which I of course fantasized was a chopper! (and I eventually was lucky enough to get one of those,too!)

I loved riding bikes, racing the boys in the neighborhood (all the girls were slow and boring) and doing jumps off of ramps and bunny hops off of the curbs.

My friends and I always had a race around the neighborhood with are bikes.

When I'm old and feeble and in a nursing home, there's only one thing I want you all to promise me. You'll let me know when Randyman moves in.

UPDATE: GoneAway, I always crash the first time I ride something, but if EO is game....ORIGINAL COMMENT: When I was growing up, our house was at the bottom end of a hill. One day I took my sisters bike and walked it to the top of the hill. I didn't really know how to ride a bike yet. I had to be about five years old or younger. Anyway once I got up to the top of the hill I got on the bike and I just took off. I had no clue about the brakes and I was flying. As I got near the our house I saw my father and yelled at him for help, he ran after me, but in my panic I turned the bike and ran right into our house, at full speed. I flew off the bike, hit the wall and got pretty banged up. We laughed about that for years. The funny thing is when I was in high school, I did the exact same thing, except I was on a motor cycle. I eventually learned.