Bicycle, bicycle, I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride it where I might*

* or something like that, thank you Freddie Mercury and Queen

Yes we are back to stealing lines to songs from long dead bands. The scary thing is I was alive when Jim Morrison was alive and I can remember when he died. And I always thought Freddie Mercury was bi not just gay. Live and learn and yes that is the theme to this blog. The young ladies started to learn to ride two wheelers this spring. I was trying to be a better father and human being, like I talked about in the last blog, so when they asked me to teach them to ride two wheelers, I told them that we would do it on Sunday at three. I thought by that time I would want to get away from yard work and do something else. When they came to me at three I was not ready to stop, but I did. We found Elena's bike had a chunk out of the tire and it was flat. That was actually good, we only needed one bike. Each girl needed me to hold them up and run along side them or they fell over.
They kept asking how I learned to ride a two wheeler? I don't have very many memories of my Dad that don't include working, but when I was young he was involved in our lives. When I say our lives I mean Karl and mine. I don't know if Ruth and Eric have memories like this one.

   I had ridden a bike with training wheels for a few years and one spring day my Dad took the wheels off. I don't know if I asked or he just did. I got one the bike and he told me to peddle really hard. He ran along side of me for a little way and then let go. I peddled as hard as I could for I don't know how long. I was afraid to stop figuring I would fall down. I guess eventually I did slow down and didn't fall because when the girls made a comment that I didn't know how to ride I bike I got on it and rode away leaving them amazed and running after me telling me to stop, which I didn't, would you?
   The first Sunday I got a good work out running up and down the side street near Conger Elementary. Every time I let go they would wobble and if I missed they would fall which they did a few times. The second week Nastia went into some pricker bushes and after that we went over to the field and the basketball courts at the school. Each week they got better. That didn't stop them from saying when are we going to be able to ride our bikes, it's never going to happen. I would point out that last week I had to hold them on the bikes and this week they went a little ways without me touching them. Finally on the third week Elena got off a good ride far into the grass. Then her sister did the same thing.

   On the fourth week they were practicing starting from standing still to going. They had come a long way very fast and I'm sure they did not see it that way. Tomorrow they will go out with two bikes, if I get Elena's fixed and they will need little or no help from me. By the end of June or maybe even by the middle of June they will be going to Rockland lake riding the trail on their own, just not on a weekend when it is busy and maybe they should wear life jackets they will get closer to the water and it was only last week they both ran into the elementary school building. Maybe we don't rush things.