Bicycle = Freedom

My SIL has said that when she got her first (& only) bike, when she was younger, that to her, it meant one thing: Freedom! Unfortuneately it was short lived. Her mom, my MIL, threw her bike away after she fell off & broke her arm......or was that what happened to her roller skates?

Anyhoo, I went w/ a bike ride w/ H tonight as he jogged. He hasn't been running for a few weeks & he said he's starting to 'feel it'.

I remembered my first bike, well I don't think it was actually my official FIRST bike but I do remember it the most. My dad got it used from somewhere & said he would fix it up for me. He asked me what color I wanted it painted. I really had no idea but when he suggested cherry red, I knew it would be something special. cherry red. cherry red. CHERRY RED.

Doesn't that just sound like the most decadently COOL color you have ever heard of? Like a hot rod or something! It was not just red, it was cherry red, which was a warm red w/ sort of fuschia undertones & it had gold sparkles in it. Although back then it would have been described as gold glitter in it. lol

He also put a golden glittered banana seat on it. And it had those handle bars that curve upwards. Oh! That bike was SO HOT! Nothing was cooler than my cherry red bike w/ the golden glittered banana seat.

I never thought of owning my bike as being liberated as my SIL did. Maybe because I didn't feel 'stifled'. But I sure do remember riding my bike around & around the 'lane' we lived on. Mom would tell me & my brother we could ride our bikes out front but NOT in the alley. Ok sure mom. The trips up & down the lane lasted only a few times before we daringly decided to ride back down that alley. Of course we had to ride down the alley FAST, just in case mom called us & we couldn't hear, because we did NOT want to get caught.

My brother was the first to go down the alley. He was usually the first, if not only, to take such risks. Eventually though, I was brave enough to follow. Finally it became part of our allowable route.

As I got older, I got a blue, boys, beach cruiser, like everyone else had. It was brand new.

It was cool, no doubt. But it would never compare to my cherry red bike w/ the golden glittered banana seat!