Growing Up Coventry

Warmer weather is finally here. As I was driving home from work the other day I saw no kids riding their bikes. Is this a lost art? Sure there is the random kid that is riding but he probably got his PS3 taken away.

Growing up in the 70s, my brothers, sister and  I couldn't wait to get out of the house and go for a ride around the neighborhood. Although being the youngest of six didn't always make me first choice for a riding buddy, especially since I was still riding a psychedelic orange tricycle form 1962. Most days I was left riding in circles in the driveway. Finally the day came that I was getting a new bike! Off to Benny's we went.  The bikes were in the same spot they are today, so as  soon as I walked in I saw it - a blue two wheel bike with a white banana seat and a white horse head on the chain guard. Next to the horse head was the word "Pony". This wasn't just any shade of blue-this was what my family called Wilson Blue. 

My grandfather owned a huge junkyard in Foster and created a signature shade of blue that he painted all the work trucks. This was the one that would make me cool enough to ride with everyone else. One small problem occured to me on the ride home - I had no idea how to ride a two wheel bike. On went the training wheels. Still not cool enough to go on the bike rides - maybe even worse now that I had a big bike with training wheels - I rode around doing circles in the driveway.

The whole circles in the driveway thing was becoming increasingly embarrassing since I had a normal size bike that had training wheels on it.  My sister had had enough one day and off came the training wheels.After a few attempts I had it! I was riding my two wheel bike! Off I went with my sister on my first cruise around the neighborhood on my bike.  Peddling down the road I was excited - I was finally cool enough for my sister to want to ride with me!

That ended soon enough when my sisters riding buddies came peddling towards us. Kids her own age that she had been riding with were a threat to me I had to maintain my new riding skills. They weren't going to take away my new found freedom-and they sure weren't going to take away my riding buddy-that would mean I would be demoted back to the circles in the driveway!  

As they passed, they told my sister to ride with them. She turned her bike to follow and yelled back at me to turn around.Turn around? No one taught me how to turn around on this big bike. I realized I was going too fast to jump off. Panicked, I kept going straight into the neighbors white pickett fence.  Maybe the whole bike riding experience is overated.