Yup, you read it right. I am 32 years old and still learning how to ride a bike and last Sunday, I was finally able to do it. I forgot to include this one in my new year’s goals but this one definitely belongs in the short-term category. Last Sunday, my husband finally had the time to teach me how to ride a bike. It must have been a funny sight to see a grown woman (although some still think of me as a teenager. Go ahead! hehe!) struggling to keep a mountain bike upright. Yup, of all the things I could have used to learn how to ride a bike, I chose a mountain bike! You see, I have been asking my husband for quite some time to teach me how to ride a bike. I wanted to know what all the fuss was about because he is an avid mountain biker even when he was still in the academy. He was always telling me that he would teach me when he had enough funds to buy me my own bike. I couldn’t use his bike because it was custom-built for him. He is very tall and when I will be using his bike, my feet won’t touch the ground. My wish was granted when we won a mountain bike which was being raffled off by NCRCOM during their Christmas Party; but, based on our luck with raffles, I never thought that we would be able to win one out of the 100 bikes that were being raffled off. I had just told my husband that if we won a bike, it would be mine since he already has one and that he would fulfill his promise to teach me when lo and behold, his name was called!

So, after almost two months of nagging him when he would teach me how to ride a bike, he finally relented to teach me last Sunday. First, he taught me how to fall and how to use my feet to anchor the bike. Then, he held the back of the bike much like how a father would hold the back of the bike and then we were off. There were times (well, most of the time) that I would fall and using what he taught me, I firmly planted my feet whenever I could feel the bike falling off to one side. I had a go at it for two rounds when he finally let go. In the thrill and excitement of the moment, I lost my concentration and had a nasty spill which promptly gave me my first scraped knee. I saw my husband’s face when he saw my “severely” scraped and bleeding knee and he immediately concluded the lesson. I wanted to get back up and ride again; but I could see that the sight of blood oozing out of the wound was too much for him; so, I agreed to stop the lesson. Scraped knee and all (not to mention the loss of my physical asset. hehe), I am still willing to get back up on the bike and learn how to ride. I was going to take the bike out on my own yesterday when my husband texted me that I shouldn’t take it out and wait for my “instructor”. Well, what can I say, he knows me so well.

I also learned that I should be wearing knee pads the next time I ride the bike. I don’t care if it would make me look silly but one badly scraped knee is enough thank you. Hehe. When I learn how to ride a bike, I think that the next challenge would be to overcome my fear of driving. Well, baby steps first and one goal at a time.

The next time you go to Bonifacio Heights and see a grown woman learning how to ride a bike, that would be me and hopefully there wouldn’t be scraped knees anymore.