I can't remember if I had a tricycle. But, my first bike, bought with really good intentions for my 7th birthday, was a very small German bike that probably cost my parents a fortune. I guess they didn't realize what an uncoordinated klutz I was! I was fine with the training wheels, but I could not learn how to ride without them. I do remember boys in the neighborhood making fun of my "teeny" bike. Also, it was different; i.e., not American. So, it got put away. Then, when I was 9, almost 10 my mom was determined to teach me to ride when we were at our cottage on the Cape. The cottage colony had 3-4 flat roads, so she rented me a purple Schwinn and i was riding in 3 days. I remember having absolutely no control and veering across the road, into a friend's car. The best part was she let me ride it back to the rental place (a mile!) with her following me in the car. I was hooked. They got me a blue Schwinn, with coaster brakes and a big blue rack on the back. I had that for a year and then I got a Raleigh 3 speed, with a Brooks saddle. I rode everywhere on it, up big hills and in cold weather. In 8th grade I got another Raleigh, in a bigger size. My riding stopped when I was 16 and moved to Florida; too hot and I got my license. My next bike was when I was 24 and a boyfriend bought me a mongrel 5 speed road bike at the Tempe Bike Shop when I was in grad school at ASU and first teaching. I used to ride it to class in the summer in a sundress! Then, my husband and I got 10 speed Univegas in the eighties. That was it until I got my first road bike in 2001.