Reckless Cyclist

My younger sister (YS) for some reason never got into the normal childhood activities. I have many theories that may explain this but I won’t go into them right now. Trust me, there are thousands of posts dealing with YS. All in good time.

For her 12th birthday, I purchased a 10-speed bike for her. She knew how to ride but was reluctant to do so, lack of confidence if I had to put my finger on it. Part of my responsibility, as an elder sibling, was to help get her confidence on track hence the gift. We grew up in the perfect neighborhood for cycling. So one day I was able to convince her to go riding with a visiting cousin and me. We decided that I would take the lead, followed by my cousin and YS heading up the rear. The neighborhood is built around a 4-mile parkway. Most of the parkway is wide containing no medians, there is one section of the ride which had a grassy median involved which of course made the road a little narrower.

I knew that she would get a little nervous as we approached this section especially since there were a few cars parallel parked in front of their homes in that area. As we embarked the section I turned back to see if all was well with my caravan. My cousin looked very relaxed. My sister on the other hand had white knuckles. The narrow portion of the ride was no longer than maybe 250 yards it shouldn’t have been a problem. Halfway through the narrow zone a car passed us. I heard my sister very nervously announce that a vehicle was approaching and I looked back to see how she was handling it. The car passed her first, then my cousin followed by myself. The driver was very conscientious and drove as far left of us as possible. I was very relieved to see how much room he left us and was silently proud of YS.

As I turned to tell her how proud I was, I found her dangling by her elbow from the side-view mirror of one of the parked cars. Her bike passed me at that exact moment. It was some type of panic reaction on her part. The passing car had cleared us by at least 20 seconds and then she decided to become one with the parked car. I was amazed. I didn’t know she was agile enough to suspend herself by her elbow from a 4-door sedan. Her feet were completely in the air. She was still in that position when I got to her, unbelievable! I pried her off the side-view mirror and made sure she wasn’t injured in any way. Then I looked at the car to make sure it wasn’t damaged. Amazingly, it was not. My cousin brought the bike back to her and she refused to get back on. I understand how unnerved she was but I was always taught to “get back on the horse.” Nope, she was having none of that and we were at least a mile away from home. In an effort of solidarity, we all walked our bikes back home.

That was the first and last time she ever road that bike. She is 33 years old now. The bike still sits in Mom and Dad’s garage. I think I will pass it down to Little Mermaid.