Push Bikes

Mentioning push bikes the other day prompted a walk down memory lane.  I started remembering some of my push bikes over the years (No it was not that long ago that I started with a penny farthing).
My favourite was one that had chopper handlebars.  I thought it looked really cool.
It’s funny I remember learning to ride.  It was in a huge park and a friend had taken it on himself to teach me.  Why it is weird is, I remember my first ever go.  I rode quite a long way before falling off.  I do not think it was the accomplishment so much as the encouragement that causes me to remember it so vividly.  There was no thought of this is hard, maybe I cannot do this.  It was all get up and have another go.  Which I did, and like so many I could ride.
That mate was a catalyst for so much.  His place was toward the bottom of a hill.  Their driveway was sort of parallel to the road (one of those drive in one way and out the other ones).  At one point there was sand on the driveway that ended in a sand pile next to the driveway.  We would career down the hill on our bikes and hit the brakes when we hit the sand.  We would leave a skid mark we thought was really good.
Another thing that stands out to me was how much my world expanded once I could ride.  I was not limited to walking distance anymore.  There were places to explore that had been too far once but now where withing riding distance.  It seems I have come full circle.  My world expands as I grow up, and contracts as I grow older.
I thought my dad was funny one time in what he said.  He said, “you kids are so lucky these days.  You have bikes.  We had bikes.  But they did not have wheels.  We used to have to carry our bikes everywhere we went.”
Though I may not ride a two-wheeler anymore, I know a couple of people that are really into push bikes.  One is seventy and I would never pick it.  They are so fit looking.  The other is younger and again looks really fit.
Merril and I now each have a three wheeler.  They have baskets, but we have only ever been to the shops here once.  We mostly take them on holidays with us to the Sunshine coast.  They are locked but at the ready where we go, and we like to go for a ride up there either to the shops or exploring.  We know it is a get fit thing but there are a lot of stops to take pics.  We have made them more readily accessible at home in case we want to go for a ride.
I think that apart from that my bike riding days are over.  Maybe it is a bit like partying these days.  It is subdued or only on the inside.