Personal Significance

I was at an age where responsibility was something new to me and I was being tested quite often. I recall traveling at a dangerous speed, trying to grasp for the first time what a G-force really meant and felt like. We used to call it “booking”, and it meant you were going pretty fast either on foot or bike. But why? Probably because you were throwing snowballs or tomatoes at cars, then the tires squealed as the brakes burned hot and the passenger door flew open. That was your signal to take off. Yeah, I was that kind of kid…sometimes.
I had no lights, reflective clothing or bright colors. Not even a helmet, we didn’t consider that. That was reserved for motorcycles, racecar drivers and stuntmen. I may have not been one of the first two, but in my mind as well as a few others, I was a stuntman. And damn proud of it!
I didn’t want to get grounded and I didn’t mean to push the limits. But I was having such a great time, hanging out with an older crowd, being seen out later than most kids my age. I had this new feeling, I felt that I could do more and go places without asking permission. I was still held accountable for my actions; I realized that along with independence comes more responsibility and consequences.
I was breathing so heavy trying to get home on time. It was light enough that I could see where I was going, dusk was setting in so that cars wouldn’t recognize me before it was too late…for me. There was that flicker and faint sounding buzz that always happens when streetlights warm up. Watching one after the other appear made me pedal faster. Were mom and dad home? Did they step out for a bit? Yeah, technically the streetlights are on, but for like what…three minutes? I was late but not that late, do they let me slide with a stern warning or was there a lesson to be learned here?
Wagon, tricycle, green machine, bike with training wheels, bike without training wheels, BMX, 10-speed…do you see the progression? Guys always want wheels. Why? Because it means you can go faster! Go faster strictly for the sake OF GOING FASTER. It means you can get from one place to the other faster. It represents freedom, freedom from the shackles of embarrassment when mom drops you off at school or soccer practice in the “grocery getter”. Freedom to come and go as you please, reliance and dependence were becoming a thing of the past. I didn’t realize that then because I was too caught up in the euphoric moment of growing up.
A bike is not just means of transportation. It’s a learning tool that teaches countless lessons to boys and girls growing up around the world. It sets forth a new set of limitless choices for kids.
I remember getting my driver’s license and how I felt that things were really going to change now. I think every sixteen-year-old viewed that time in his or her life as pivotal. There is this coming of age time that defines our personality, those present actions determine our future and become that past that shapes us. SE Hinton elaborates fantastically on this topic in her ever-popular “That Was Then, This Is Now”. Much like a pet is the precursor and training tool that sets up couples for parenthood, the bicycle in a similar sense prepares kids for a future of responsibility and choice.