MY SECOND FIRST BIKE …..

On my eighth Christmas, Santa gave me a brand new, shiny bicycle.  The only problem was that it was for a boy, the kind with that center bar on it.  I am a girl and I was pretty upset when my Dad said to me, “I guess Santa made a mistake”.  Seriously? I wore my new Christmas dress when I sat on Santa’s lap. He asked me my name, told me that he knew I was a good little girl … and he gave me a boy’s bike as a Christmas gift! Seriously?

My Dad said he would get in touch with Santa and get things fixed for me .. and he did.  My girl’s bike arrived at our home in the middle of a snowstorm and it wasn’t till the spring before I could ride it. But then I promptly drove it straight into a cast iron lamppost.  Since this was the first time I was on a bike, I really had no idea how to stop it. My Dad yelling, “Use the brakes”, meant nothing to me so the lamppost was the next best thing. It was quite apparent to me that I could not stop the bike and I was awful at steering! After that, the bike was delegated to our basement and there it stayed for 2 years until it was packed up with the rest of our belongings for our move to a new home in South Jersey.

Our new neighborhood was quite modern in 1958 with all of the electricity placed underground.  The new lampposts were not cast iron but a lighter aluminum. I remember thinking how easy the kids in my new environment made bike riding look as they scooted around those lampposts like they were not even there.  So I asked my Dad if he would help me ready my bike for a little excursion in front of our house. When things were all cleaned up and ready to go, my Dad explained to me how to use the coaster brakes on the bike, how to safely steer clear of the lampposts … and I was ready to go.  Imagine my utter delight when I found myself just riding along on the new streets, gliding in and out on the sidewalks, around the lampposts and coming to a complete stop by using the coaster brakes! What a ride that was!!

After that, I went everywhere I was able to go on my bike.  Every day in the summer months I rode my bike to our neighborhood swimming pool, carrying my towel in my newly purchased handlebar basket.  I went to band camp carrying my clarinet in that basket. I went on short errands for my Mom to the local deli and carried home our lunchmeat and rolls order.  My girlfriends and sister often went up to our local shopping plaza to spend the day just hanging out .. and if I bought anything at all, into that little basket it went. Pajama parties were much more fun for me since I rode my bike to my friend’s homes and carried all my stuff in a paper bag that I placed in that basket.

I gave that bicycle a new life and it did the same for me.  I branched out as far as my bike and legs would carry me until the day that my bike began to show it’s age.  The chain would break and be fixed, the tires would flatten and would be patched. It got to the point where it became too costly to keep repairing it with my allowance earnings. So I retired it but never replaced it.  After all, how can you replace something that you shared so many adventures with, right?

But I can tell you this … I will never forget my second first bike!

 

(12/18/hjs)