Lessons learned on a bike as a kid
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Lessons learned on a bike as a kid
1) Way back when I had a kid stop me while I was riding my bike. The both of us must have been 10 years old. I was very naive at the time. Kid asks me to help him 'get into his house' as he lost his key. Wanted me to climb up to second story and break into a window. Even being naive at the time, I saw thru it and started pedaling. MY first encounter with a bike thief.
Never forgot the experience.
2) My dad told me not to ride my bike out of the neighborhood. So what did I do? You guessed it. My dad came home one night and saw me out of the neighborhood. He stopped, put my bike in the back of the station wagon and told me to tell him when we got home why he didn't want me to do that. When we got home I told him it was dangerous and that someone might try to "get me", or I could get hit by a car and things like that. He was fine with that answer and never approached the subject with me again. Didn't take the bike away from me or anything. Now, my siblings had a habit of being confrontational with this kind of thing and were always in trouble. They thought my Dad was real mean. I recently confronted my siblings with this story and others and I really think I made headway with them. But they are really, really hard-headed.
Never forgot the experience.
2) My dad told me not to ride my bike out of the neighborhood. So what did I do? You guessed it. My dad came home one night and saw me out of the neighborhood. He stopped, put my bike in the back of the station wagon and told me to tell him when we got home why he didn't want me to do that. When we got home I told him it was dangerous and that someone might try to "get me", or I could get hit by a car and things like that. He was fine with that answer and never approached the subject with me again. Didn't take the bike away from me or anything. Now, my siblings had a habit of being confrontational with this kind of thing and were always in trouble. They thought my Dad was real mean. I recently confronted my siblings with this story and others and I really think I made headway with them. But they are really, really hard-headed.
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Well. at 5 1/2 I checked out Curious George Rides A Bike from the school library. My first library book. I got it to learn how to fold a paper boat as the book detailed. But as a side effect of reading it, I realized that if Curious George could ride a bike, so could I. I didn't know how he learned, but it gave me the courage to try.
I went to the home of one of my female friends and got her permission to use her bicycle while she played inside. I chose a girls bike because it was easier to get on and off. In a couple of hours I had mastered all the basic skills.
So, Curious George Rides a Bike is the most influential book I've ever read. What I learned about folding paper boats also applied to paper airplanes.
This came in well, when in college, I had a young friend with an insatiable appetite for paper airplanes. That pushed my folding skills to the point where I came up with my own flying wing design based on the Northrop Aircraft flying wings from WWII. I entered one in the 2nd Great International Paper Airplane Contest and came up with bronze medal in aerobatics, and the plane spent several years on display in the National Air and Space Museum within sight of the Wright Brothers original plane.
I went to the home of one of my female friends and got her permission to use her bicycle while she played inside. I chose a girls bike because it was easier to get on and off. In a couple of hours I had mastered all the basic skills.
So, Curious George Rides a Bike is the most influential book I've ever read. What I learned about folding paper boats also applied to paper airplanes.
This came in well, when in college, I had a young friend with an insatiable appetite for paper airplanes. That pushed my folding skills to the point where I came up with my own flying wing design based on the Northrop Aircraft flying wings from WWII. I entered one in the 2nd Great International Paper Airplane Contest and came up with bronze medal in aerobatics, and the plane spent several years on display in the National Air and Space Museum within sight of the Wright Brothers original plane.
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Last edited by Artkansas; 08-15-11 at 05:23 PM.
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Well. at 5 1/2 I checked out Curious George Rides A Bike from the school library. My first library book. I got it to learn how to fold a paper boat as the book detailed. But as a side effect of reading it, I realized that if Curious George could ride a bike, so could I. I didn't know how he learned, but it gave me the courage to try...............
My first bike was a used Schwinn. Learned to fix flats when I was 6. Most important lesson that bikes have taught me are these: A) If it breaks, odds are it can be fixed. B) It's not that bad no matter what you think. C) Mobility is everything.
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Never let your friends set up (sabotage) the bike jump ramp
It hurts like hell when you fall.
It hurts like hell when you fall.
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never go up the curb with your wheel turned at an angle. owwie
never let random strangers ask if they can ride your bike. Yep, almost got my bike stolen at a park at the age of 8.
riding my bike meant i got to recognize what street is where and what. I used to come home from school and finish my homework as fast I could and put a few reading books in my backpack and leave the house. my parents never cared if I left the neighborhood at the age of 8. bad parenting I guess lol.
never let random strangers ask if they can ride your bike. Yep, almost got my bike stolen at a park at the age of 8.
riding my bike meant i got to recognize what street is where and what. I used to come home from school and finish my homework as fast I could and put a few reading books in my backpack and leave the house. my parents never cared if I left the neighborhood at the age of 8. bad parenting I guess lol.
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Make sure front wheel is tight before doing wheelies.....
Handlebar shims make my head hurt.......
Old Schwinn Sting-rays can only take 4-6 ft jumps only so many times.....and your nuts won't bend the top bar......
Balloons sound better in the spokes than cards.......
You can service a Sting-ray with a screwdriver and a cresent wrench....
Sting-ray banana seats and sissy bars hurt when they are raked across your underside....
Don't ride bicycles backwards with the handlebars loose......
If you try to ride a stingray like a unicycle,by sitting on the head tube,it's not easy to get your feet back on the ground.....
Handlebar shims make my head hurt.......
Old Schwinn Sting-rays can only take 4-6 ft jumps only so many times.....and your nuts won't bend the top bar......
Balloons sound better in the spokes than cards.......
You can service a Sting-ray with a screwdriver and a cresent wrench....
Sting-ray banana seats and sissy bars hurt when they are raked across your underside....
Don't ride bicycles backwards with the handlebars loose......
If you try to ride a stingray like a unicycle,by sitting on the head tube,it's not easy to get your feet back on the ground.....
Last edited by Booger1; 08-17-11 at 01:14 PM.
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Took the fenders off my Hercules. Used to jamb my sneaker on the rear tire and seat stay to make it skid(cool)!
One day I tried it on the front fork. Ever see a bike and rider do summer salts?
Lucky I was on a grassy spot and not on the sidewalk or road.
The next day the fenders went back on and stayed on.
A lesson learned almost 60 years ago.
One day I tried it on the front fork. Ever see a bike and rider do summer salts?
Lucky I was on a grassy spot and not on the sidewalk or road.
The next day the fenders went back on and stayed on.
A lesson learned almost 60 years ago.
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A spray can is the poverty version of getting a new bike.
Shoelaces and bicycles don't always mix.
No matter how cool your bike is when you turn 16 a car is cooler.
Bearings don't get adjusted as tight as you can get them.
Don't carry a fishing rod in your hands on a bicycle.
Just because a part costs twice as much doesn't mean it's twice as good.
Someone always has a nicer bike than you.
Shoelaces and bicycles don't always mix.
No matter how cool your bike is when you turn 16 a car is cooler.
Bearings don't get adjusted as tight as you can get them.
Don't carry a fishing rod in your hands on a bicycle.
Just because a part costs twice as much doesn't mean it's twice as good.
Someone always has a nicer bike than you.
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I had to laugh at some of the responses,only because I done them myself!
1..Riding without shoes......I was about 5 or 6 and had this old bike with hard rubber tires. My mom wouldn't let me ride down the street so I rode the sidewalk to my friend's house on the same block. Around the corner there was a bolt holding a guide wire of some kind and I smashed my right big toe on it at least 3 times a summer.Surprised I still have a toe nail,or a toe.
2...Friends setting up ramps...For some reasons they like to set it up higher and longer they would when doing themselves.We were having a great time jumping ramps in alley,and at each turn the ramps got higher.When my turn came,I swear that the ramp was almost straight up. It was at a high angle but still I took my turn. I jumped so high that Evel Knevel would've been proud of. Landing,blew out a tire,sheared a bolt off the front tire and loosened the handlebars. God looks out for fools and kids,I didn't break any bones but was scraped up pretty bad.
When altering a bike by adding sawed off forks to excisting ones,make sure you you don't do wheelies too often.It's embarressing when the forks crack and break off and you have to cart your bike home instead of riding it.
1..Riding without shoes......I was about 5 or 6 and had this old bike with hard rubber tires. My mom wouldn't let me ride down the street so I rode the sidewalk to my friend's house on the same block. Around the corner there was a bolt holding a guide wire of some kind and I smashed my right big toe on it at least 3 times a summer.Surprised I still have a toe nail,or a toe.
2...Friends setting up ramps...For some reasons they like to set it up higher and longer they would when doing themselves.We were having a great time jumping ramps in alley,and at each turn the ramps got higher.When my turn came,I swear that the ramp was almost straight up. It was at a high angle but still I took my turn. I jumped so high that Evel Knevel would've been proud of. Landing,blew out a tire,sheared a bolt off the front tire and loosened the handlebars. God looks out for fools and kids,I didn't break any bones but was scraped up pretty bad.
When altering a bike by adding sawed off forks to excisting ones,make sure you you don't do wheelies too often.It's embarressing when the forks crack and break off and you have to cart your bike home instead of riding it.
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I learned what we called 'broadsiding'. We had a sports field at the end of our street and the pavilion had a cinder path leading to it. My friends showed me how to lock my back wheel and lay the bike over. The back end would slew round speedway style and spray cinders everywhere.
It was fun but I didn't think that the skills learned would ever come in handy but actually, they have a few times in my adult cycling life.
On one such occasion I was descending a steep local hill to a set of traffic lights which were on red. It had been raining and the road surface was very greasy. The lights turned to green when I was about 100 yards away so I stopped braking and sprinted down the hill towards the junction. To my horror, the lights changed back to red before I got to them. I couldn't jump the light because the traffic was already moving across in front of me. Emergency braking had the back of my bike sliding out and it was then that my broadsiding skills saved me. I ended up sliding my bike sideways to the line and stopping just in time!
It was fun but I didn't think that the skills learned would ever come in handy but actually, they have a few times in my adult cycling life.
On one such occasion I was descending a steep local hill to a set of traffic lights which were on red. It had been raining and the road surface was very greasy. The lights turned to green when I was about 100 yards away so I stopped braking and sprinted down the hill towards the junction. To my horror, the lights changed back to red before I got to them. I couldn't jump the light because the traffic was already moving across in front of me. Emergency braking had the back of my bike sliding out and it was then that my broadsiding skills saved me. I ended up sliding my bike sideways to the line and stopping just in time!
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When I was 4 my mine was 5. He wanted to race across he street. Me, on his big wheel, him on his bike. We started down his driveway, I stopped thinking I saw a car. It was just the shadow of his dad's truck. He kept going. A car hit and killed him.
Lesson: land sharks eat ppl
Lesson: land sharks eat ppl
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My parents too, put a boundary on my riding; or so they thought. But I managed to elude detection and by age 8 was ranging several miles from home, crossing narrow, heavily traveled bridges and braving the length of the most heavily traveled highway on that side of the state, (Florida, still known for its animosity to cyclists). All of this made me a redoubtable and cautious bicyclist because I knew that I had to ride safely to avoid detection, which I did. By age 10, I had no limits save those of time and convenience.
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Last edited by Artkansas; 08-18-11 at 08:08 AM.
#18
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when i was about 8 i got my bike stolen by an older kid in the neighborhood - he "borrowed it" but never brought it back. another older kid (i did not know) returned it eventually. i guess he felt sorry for me when he saw me waiting for hours with tears in my eyes. learned to listen to my spidey sense and that there are good people in the world.
Last edited by testertips; 08-18-11 at 08:21 AM.
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I've been working on a series of articles about each of the bikes I've owned throughout my life. I"ve only got the first four completed so far, but there are many memories attached to each one. Here's a link to the article on my first bike: https://www.tundraman.com/Other/Bicycles/FirstBike.php
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dont repeatedly lock up the rear brakes for a cool skid out.......tires don't last forever.
this one happened a few years ago.......don't take a turn to fast when theres a warning that the river sometimes over flows the path.....I got a new purdy birthmark on my forehead
don't lean a bike too far in a turn with aggressive tires on
old 10 spd rims do not taking a beating like a bmx bike
fix the damn chain before you stand up to pedal.......I could see my knee cap after the fall and picked gravel out of my other knee for a week
don't do stupid stuff on a bike in front of your kids....they're try it also
this one happened a few years ago.......don't take a turn to fast when theres a warning that the river sometimes over flows the path.....I got a new purdy birthmark on my forehead
don't lean a bike too far in a turn with aggressive tires on
old 10 spd rims do not taking a beating like a bmx bike
fix the damn chain before you stand up to pedal.......I could see my knee cap after the fall and picked gravel out of my other knee for a week
don't do stupid stuff on a bike in front of your kids....they're try it also
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