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I post on Monday with an occasional random blog thrown in for good measure. I do my best to answer all comments via email and visit around on the days I post.

Monday, August 22, 2011

My First Bicycle - Part One

Between about 1955 and 1959 my father was the head of maintenance at Caneel Bay, which was at that time Laurence Rockefeller's private resort hotel.  For about two of those years we lived at Caneel as housing was provided for many of the employees.

Somehow we got the best house on the place. It was the farthest away from everything and perched on the side of a hill, thus giving us the grandest view of the resort and the ocean. But it was small, with three closet bedrooms, a microscopic bath, a tiny kitchen, and a living room about 12 by 15 feet. We called it the Beehive.

On my eighth birthday Dad presented me with a bicycle, a real one with handle-bar brakes and everything. He proudly explained that he had built it from the salvaged parts of three wrecks. It looked perfect, all shiny and freshly painted blue. I should have been thrilled because a bike was what I wanted. But inside (I kept my disappointment to myself) I was not happy. I wanted a "new" bike, like the Raleigh my sister had been given. Of course the memory of that bike now has a great deal more meaning for me. My dad made it. Nothing could be more precious than that. But at the time, well, I was eight, I couldn't appreciate the significance of the gift.

My disappointment was momentary. Below is a picture of a kapok tree that I took with my red brownie camera. Behind the tree you can see a road going right to left (it disappears to the left of the tree) with another one joining it coming down from the right. It was on the long lower road that Erva taught me how to to ride.






















You can see in the picture, the slight rise and fall of the road. I remember the dips and rises as being huge. Of course I fell the first time I got on the bike, but the second time... I coasted down the first little hill, down into the dip. It was a terrifying thrill. Oh the speed! The wind in my face! And then Erva was yelling at me to peddle as I went up the rise. So I peddled furiously, up and up until I came to the crest then, down the second dip, flying, flying.

I was hooked. And I was an immediate expert bicyclist.

Come back next Monday to learn the truth.

Do you remember your first bike and learning how to ride it?

21 comments:

  1. I remember feeling as you did about getting a hand me down bike instead of a new one. It always seemed that my brother got the new things and I got the hand me downs back then.

    I loved riding my bike down steep hills. The falling tho...that I didn't enjoy as much, ROTF

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  2. I've never had a new bike during my life. My first was a battered old three-wheeler during WWII. My first real two-wheeler on which I learned to ride was a hand-me-down from a cousin. This is the bike on which I learnt to ride with spectacular results as it had a fixed wheel. The last bike I had was a ladies 'sit-up-and-beg' with a basket on the front given to me by the coalman in the village after he had driven over the best second-hand bike I ever had.
    Waiting to see your next installment, Bish.

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  3. Boy do I remember! Oh my gosh, I don't think I should go into detail about the disaster of a fall, but lets just say it involved the bike seat and an unidentified hole ... :-/

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  4. Angel, at least my disappointment didn't last long. My bike had handle bar brakes, my sister's had the peddle brake for the back wheel. I could spin my peddles backward while costing, she couldn't. :)

    Oh no Bob, he drove over your bike? I suppose it was bit embarrassing to be seen riding a lady's bike with a basket!

    An unidentified hole...hmmmm Jessica, leaves a lot for the imagination to imagine.

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  5. LOL, yeah, but yaknow, I could mean my mouth ... or ear? Hahahahahaha ...

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  6. Ahhh, I don't remember my first bike or ever learning how to ride one; I just always had one and was able to ride-- although I'm certain that wasn't the case. I loved the freedom of my wheels and nothing was as satisfying as riding down our country road with the breeze in my hair :)

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  7. I do! It was with my best friend, J. And she was a seasoned rider - I was scared witless at the time. We went down the steepest hill in our area and I screamed the entire way. ;-)

    PS: The Beehive sounds wonderful.

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  8. Yep, a brand-new 3-speed with a gear changer in the handle. It was so cool. Reading your description brought back that delicious feeling of freedom and joy. (That's a fabulous tree, BTW!)

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  9. I totally understand wanting a brand new, shiny bike. Me? I've never ridden more than two feet on a bicycle in my life. I still don't understand how it's possible to balance ones body weight on something that small.

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  10. I was about 9 when I got my first bike. It had the pedal brakes. My dad got it at a secondhand shop. It was painted red, and one day I found a little chip on it which revealed blue paint underneath. Oh, how I wished it were still blue. I loved riding it, but the tires were always going flat.

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  11. My first bike had a banana seat and was purple with those cheerleader things coming out of the handlebars. It also had a basket. I don't remember how old I was or where I got it from though. I also don't remember riding it at all.

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  12. What an amazing picture!!!! Thank you for sharing that!!
    :)

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  13. You write down your memories so vividly. I wish I could remember my childhood better.
    Love the photo and the bike story. I do remember flying down a hill one day on my bike and falling into the gravel. It was the day my mom coined the term "hamburger knees" because that's what my knees looked like afterwards!

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  14. I remember lots of things about my childhood, but I'm drawing a blank on my first bike. Must not have been too disastrous or I'd remember it. I love reading about your life on the island, and what a special bike that your dad made for you. And your reactions about it not being new is just like a kid. That's just how most kids think. Oh, I almost forgot to say how awesome that tree is. You did good photographing that with your Brownie camera!

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  15. What a brilliant story, Bish! I can just picture you flying down that hill. I had an old bike, too - a cast off of my brother's. I remember being mortified, because it was a boy's bike.

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  16. All those falls from my first bicycle taught me so much. Things like: don't lose your balance, practice helps, when you do fall don't let your head land first. Really great life lessons.

    I loved the tree picture. What a magnificent piece of art.

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  17. Ah, that terrible tree - that's where the "West Indian Tiger" struck me.

    While we were still in Pedro, Dad built my first bike for me - I was seven and had already learned to ride at the Lake on Laura's bike.

    My first one was a full sized American style bike with coaster brakes made from parts from everywhere. It had a boy's style frame painted pink and blue fenders. I got teased for riding a boy's bike until Dad assured me that he wanted me to be riding the strongest and toughest of bikes, which it was. After that, I rode it proudly all over the neighborhood.

    Erva

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  18. I love that your dad built that bicycle from the salvaged parts of three wrecks. So cool. Some of my greatest childhood memories involve bicycles, mostly used. Although, I'll never forget the birthday when I was gifted a shiny new ten speed that I had been eyeing for months. Very fun.

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  19. First, what a beautiful tree!

    You brought back memories of being a kid and the freedom bike riding brought. There was nothing better.

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  20. I was told not to go into my parents bedroom, but of course it was right before Christmas and I felt the urge to mosey on in. To my delight, I saw my brand new, beautifully, sparkling bike. Dadai caught me. He told me to act like I hadn't seen it on Christmas morn. Boy, I could have won an academy award. Though he thought I went a little overboard in my acting debut.

    I love how your bike was built. Great!

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  21. I just want to say that the picture of the kapok tree is beautiful. There looks like there's a woman's face in it! Does anybody else see that?

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