Your Very First Bike

[nancielle]

Got mine when I was about 5. Don't know the manufacturer but it was blue and white and, best of all, I didn't have to share it with my younger sister It did get handed down to the younger siblings eventually and I moved up to a green three-speed something or other until I was in high school when I got a yellow 10 speed.

[Skierchickie]

My first few were all hand-me-downs from my sister - man, did I want a brand new bike of my own! I started with "Mumpy", the little tricycle (boy, did we laugh when Dad got on it and pedaled around the yard!), then something red with training wheels. Anybody ever learn to ride on a gravel driveway? I remember my grandpa holding me up on the hill by the barn, and running down next to me. Scarey. Then a green banana-seat bike, an aqua-blue 3-speed, and finally, MY VERY OWN green Ross Gran Tour 10-speed. That was jr high or high school, and my first real "go for a ride by myself" bike. When I was in high school, in the summer I'd go for a 15-20 mile ride after swim practice. In college one of my male friends was a biker, and he kinda gave me a hard time about the Ross (I believe he called it a tank. He is also the one who said he wouldn't ride with me unless I wore a helmet - a true friend!). So in 1987 I saved up my overtime money from my summer job, and got an aqua Trek 560. It's been all Trek ever since! A 1989 970 mtb, a 1992 2300, a 2001 8000 mtb, and now I ride a 2003 5200 , and a 2006 Fuel Ex 9. Biking is so wonderful - you can start as a little kid, and the whole thing just evolves over time. How many things do you do today that you did when you were 5? Just for fun? And how many people who loved their bikes when they were kids just don't realize they could still love them today?