As I rode past an elementary school and saw all the bikes parked there, a flood of childhood memories came flowing back to me. I realized more reasons why cycling is ingrained in me.
I lived quite a distance away from my elementary school, just ten feet from the line where they let kids stay for lunch over noon hour. The winter walks were sometimes brutal. When spring came and the day that I realized, "Hey, I can be taking my bike now," I was ecstatic. My little kid world changed on a dime on that annual day.
Suddenly I gained a whole bunch of power and freedom. No more was I panicked to get to school on time. I even had an extra twenty minutes to lounge around at lunch time. It was a terrific feeling of kid independence.
My nine-year-old son returned home from one of his first solo bike rides of the spring and he was filled with joy and wonder. "That was the most beautiful bike ride I've ever had," he exclaimed. He really took in the world, all the sights and smells when he was alone and free on his bike. The world was his to consume. Everything was beautiful to him on that ride, even water that was flooding a field on the edge of town.
He made me realize that I felt those same emotions when I was his age. It's the first real way a kid can be independent from their parents and observe the world on their terms.
Cycling is more than fitness. More than transportation.
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