Wednesday, December 2, 2009
10:29 PM
Training Wheels and First Bikes
Bernie's was this color but it didn't have the full sissy bar. It had both pedal and hand brakes. It was possibly the most beautiful bike I had ever seen up to that point.
This blue one has some of the stuff that Bernie's bike had on it. I can't remember if his had a gear shift or not. I remember he had at least one hand brake and gears. (Help me out here, Bernie. Do you have a pic?)
One Sunday afternoon after breakfast, my dad surprised Bernie and me by handing us the catalog and telling us to choose any bike they had in there for a "just because I love you" gift. We got a lot of "just because I love you gifts" but usually they were small toys, etc. We had never received anything as major as a bike except for Christmas or a birthday. I had never received a bike at all because up to that point, I was still tooling around on my trike, though I had been asking for a bigger bike with training wheels ever since my cousin, Ricky had gotten one. Bernie and I were excited to say the least and we spent the next hour or so examining every bike in the catalog, trying to decide which ones we would tell our dad we wanted. Of course, I wanted a blue one, but alas, there was no blue bike in my size so I had to settle for green. Bernie picked a glittery gold-colored 3-speed with banana seat, sissy bar, and back hand brakes. Totally cool. I loved both bikes and I was beside myself for the next several days waiting for Mistletoe Express to bring them to us. Bernie's came in a day or two before mine and I cried my eyes out for the entire time. That was a torturous situation for a 4 year old. LOL