by Arthur Gibson

Created on: March 08, 2009

Christmas 1956, I got my first bike. I couldn't wait to get it outside and start trying to ride it. The only problem, in Missouri it tends to be cold at Christmas and a lot of years it can be snowy and icy outside. You can't believe how hard it was for a 6 year old boy to have to wait for spring to try riding his brand new, shiny bike. Spring couldn't come fast enough that year. I just knew that with no problem at all I would be able to hop on the bike and take off on all kinds of adventures. My shiny steed would be able to carry me wherever my heart desired. As long as I didn't get more than 3 blocks from where we lived. But, for a 6 year old that was the whole world.

Finally, early March arrived and I was able to take my bike outside. My dad insisted that at least for a while I leave the training wheels on and stay in the driveway with the bike. He wasn't ready for me to attempt the hill we lived on at first. Finally, the training wheels came off and I began my first precarious attempts to maintain my balance and propel the bike forward at the same time. It looked so easy when I saw my friends riding their bikes. So, in my mind, it should be no trouble at all for me, because if they could do it, so could I!

After numerous falls, scrapped knees and elbows, I was finally allowed to walk, not ride, the bike down to the bottom of the hill and ride it on the street below the house. As long as I stayed on the flat part. Dad still wasn't convinced that I had the mechanics down well enough to be riding on a hill. And I was only allowed to ride the bike when he was home. He didn't want me to be begging Mom to let me go out of sight of the house. I think he knew me to well, because it wasn't long before I was begging and pleading to ride with my friends.

Finally, Mom got tired of it and walked with me to the bottom of the hill to let me prove that I could ride well enough to be let out on my own in the neighborhood. When we got to the level part of the road, she told me to ride the bike up a gradual incline and then come riding back down and stop by her. This was to be a test to show her, I could maintain my balance, ride at some speed, and then stop the bike. If I could do those things, she felt I would be okay on my own. Let me point out that our neighborhood had little traffic during the day. Plus back then most of the Moms were home and kept a communal eye out for all of the kids.

Feeling full of myself, I took up my Mom's challenge and road up the incline about a

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