Once in a while I am just going to wing it a free writing
experiment because not much is going down in my world.
So As I sit here thinking about life, trying to relate something to drinking beer or riding my bike, I go back to my childhood, not much drinking beer drinking done as a 10 year old but plenty of bike riding. Everywhere I went I rode. Baseball games, to the dirt track, where we could “conveniently” go up the street to the Schwinn bike shop and look at all the newest bikes and parts, we could not afford and grab a new sticker or two for our racing number plates, one of my all-time favorites was the “quitchabitchin’” sticker (hey I was a kid it made me giggle)
I remember the tricks I would try and fail. I would do them over and over and over again till I either got it that day or was so irritated I quit for a while. I loved speeding through the city using the driveway ramps to make my bike fly through the air. I know if you read my about me post back over a year ago, this all the same shit.
So As I sit here thinking about life, trying to relate something to drinking beer or riding my bike, I go back to my childhood, not much drinking beer drinking done as a 10 year old but plenty of bike riding. Everywhere I went I rode. Baseball games, to the dirt track, where we could “conveniently” go up the street to the Schwinn bike shop and look at all the newest bikes and parts, we could not afford and grab a new sticker or two for our racing number plates, one of my all-time favorites was the “quitchabitchin’” sticker (hey I was a kid it made me giggle)
I remember the tricks I would try and fail. I would do them over and over and over again till I either got it that day or was so irritated I quit for a while. I loved speeding through the city using the driveway ramps to make my bike fly through the air. I know if you read my about me post back over a year ago, this all the same shit.
The thing that was not there was that a certain point in my
life, I was the kid picked on. A very quiet kid. I was the kid who could play
sports, but was so afraid to mess up during pick up recess games, because
first no one wanted to pick me for their team and second, I would get so nervous I would of course screw
up and then in the middle of recess they would say “You Suck! Get out of here”
Kids are fucking nice right?
So the one thing I always had that no one could take away
was my bike. And even that I was a late bloomer taking training wheels off
later than most and being made fun of for not being able to do it yet. That
drove me and soon the training wheels were off. Freedom. After school I was free. On my bike I was
free. No one could say “You suck”
because I was not involved in their ball games, I was in charge of my own
racing, and tricks. On my bike it was my world that no one else could fuck
with.
Now when I could not
nail the newest trick I was trying out, in my own mind I would say “You Suck!”
My bike would also get me in trouble as I got to middle school and skipped
school to ride my bike, I now felt cool before or after school because I was in
my element on my expensive (you know back then it was all about the expensive
shit kids had) bike, doing things the tough kids, or the kids who were better
at baseball, football etc… couldn’t do.
My bike was my happy
place.
I have had a great life and I think the bully bullshit made me who I am today. Not saying bulling is right, just saying it worked out for me, it made me work harder for everything I have. I always worked harder at the sports I was involved in because of those rotten bastards, and was able to play on many teams growing up because those two words “You Suck!” pushed me. Even though not many of the kids rode their bikes (other than to get from point A to Point B) You Suck was still responsible for the things I did when I rode.
I have had a great life and I think the bully bullshit made me who I am today. Not saying bulling is right, just saying it worked out for me, it made me work harder for everything I have. I always worked harder at the sports I was involved in because of those rotten bastards, and was able to play on many teams growing up because those two words “You Suck!” pushed me. Even though not many of the kids rode their bikes (other than to get from point A to Point B) You Suck was still responsible for the things I did when I rode.
It was so freeing to pedal all the frustration
of the day out on my bike. And summer vacation I knew I could ride from, sun up
to sun down. No one could touch me on my bike. So these days there are no bullies saying “You
Suck!” to me on a daily basis, just the normal stresses of adult life that come
and go. There is not as much time to ride my bike either, I have
responsibilities to myself and my family, so the quantity of bike time may be
down, but the quality becomes special and I make the most of.
If I get an hour out
there alone I take full advantage of melting away all the bullshit. My bike experiences
go back to my childhood, they brought me from a place that was pretty shitty to
places I could hide in full view of the world.
Today they take me on rides that not only help me burn those beer belly calories
but also allow me to let go of any shit that may be bothering me. Sure in hindsight all the little kid crap, does not seem as big now. And someday I will look back on the stresses of my adult life and say really I worried about that bullshit?
But through it all I can look back and say when times got shitty, I had my wife, my family and I had my bike as a happy place, and no one can take that away from me.
Today they take me on rides that not only help me burn those beer belly calories
but also allow me to let go of any shit that may be bothering me. Sure in hindsight all the little kid crap, does not seem as big now. And someday I will look back on the stresses of my adult life and say really I worried about that bullshit?
But through it all I can look back and say when times got shitty, I had my wife, my family and I had my bike as a happy place, and no one can take that away from me.
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