Learning to Ride a Bike

By Audrey Saiz

The sky was a light blue with patches of white clouds, my favorite. With my bike below me, I was looking ahead at the long concrete road. The rain from this morning was still new on the ground, putting off a fresh smell. Feeling the small rubbery handle bars of my bike underneath my hands, got me even more excited to ride the bike.

“Ready?” Dad said.

“Um… Sure,” I said.

“Okay let’s go!”

He grabbed onto the back of my seat, and started walking.

“Don’t let go Daddy!”

“I won’t!”

“You can do it Audrey!” my mom yelled.

She was sitting on our porch, watching me and taking some pictures.

“Careful on that turn. Remember, you need to keep pedaling, lean with the turn, and don’t let go of the handlebars,” my dad said.

“Okay.”

My dad had told me that so many times, and I still hadn’t figured out how to do it. Other people made it look so easy, but I fell every time.

 “Okay, here we go!” he said when we got to the treacherous turn.

“Dad! Why’d you let go?!”

“You’re fine,” he said.

“No I’m not.”

“Just keep those legs moving.”

“K,” I said, concentrating with all my might on the ground ahead of me. Woah, I thought. The bike was wobbling underneath me and I started to panic. “Ahhhh!” I screamed.

The bike hit a big rock and fell to the side.

“Ouch!” Looking down at my knee, I saw a cut that felt like it was 10 times as bad as it really was.

“Daddy look at my knee!” I said almost in tears.

“It’s alright, come on up you go. Let’s grab a Band-Aid for that,” he said, starting towards the back porch, with me limping along at his side.

My mom was coming down the stairs already with a Band-Aid in her hand. She sat me down on the couch and put it on my knee.

“There, all better,” she said with a smile.

“Okay, you ready to go again?” my dad asked.

“Um… ok,” I replied uneasily. I wasn’t ready to get cut again.

We walked back to where my bike was. I picked it up and took a deep breath.

“And… go!” my dad said.

This time he gave me a push on the back of the seat.

“Dad look at me I’m doing it!”

“Nice Job!”

Coming up on the turn I took a deep breath, here I go, I thought.

“Remember to lean with it!” called my dad.

Yes! I thought. I finally did it!

When I got back to where my dad was standing, he told me good job. We walked back to my porch where my mom was sitting. She jumped up and hugged me. That day I learned how to ride a bike, and that even if things are hard I need to keep going. To this day I always have this lesson in my mind.