Biking.

Wrote this on August 10th.


As I walked down the street where I live, there were a couple of times (including today) when I passed by 2 kids riding bicycles. The first time I saw them, the mom or the nanny was trying to teach the young boy how to ride a big/adult-size two-wheeler (not the mountain bike kind, though), while his younger sister looked on. She was riding a smaller two-wheeler, but she already knew how to ride without training wheels.

This afternoon, I only saw the little girl riding her bike, as her mom and nanny each kept an eye on her while they were chatting with another neighbor. They both told her to turn back once she had reached the farthest speed bump up the street.

It reminded me of the days when my brother and I used to ride our own bikes up and down the street. I envied my brother for riding a two-wheeler even though I was perfectly content with my smaller one with training wheels. Eventually he had my bike's training wheels removed without telling me, and despite my protests, he told me that I could still use it. For a few days, I didn't ride my bike sans the training wheels.

During one afternoon though, I was seated on my bike near the curb while my mom and aunt were talking to a couple of neighbors. I was just sitting there, then I tried to balance myself on the bike as long as I could. After a while, I remember experimentally putting my feet on the pedals and pushing off. To my excitement, I realized that I was already riding my bike on just two wheels!

The afternoons were mostly spent just riding bikes with my brother and sometimes some other kids from the nearby houses. And whenever my cousins visited, we took turns riding my bike as well as my brother's. A couple of years later, I outgrew my small bike, and somehow had to relearn how to ride using my brother's bike. Eventually once I got the hang of it, more afternoons and summers were spent riding up and down the street with my cousins, sometimes even going as far as my cousins' house several blocks away.

I suddenly miss riding a bike. I remember I even used to rent bikes near the CCP area just for the heck of it.