Easy As Riding A Bike

Everybody has to get rid of their training wheels at one point or another. For me that was the easy part. I found the most challenging thing about learning to ride a bike, was getting used to hand brakes. My only downfall was the hill down to the playground at the park across the street. 

Once I got the hang of it in front of the house, I decided to go with my brother and sister on the way to the park. It was the first time our mother would let us all go together without her to the park. I was excited to get going, and wanted to be able to show off some new moves. 

On our way to the park, I was a little apprehensive of the steep grade of the hill. Aspenn and our brother went for it with no fear. When it was finally my turn, I went for it full speed ahead. When it was time for me to stop for the first time near the bottom of the hill, I tried for my brakes. However, I wasn't used to the new brakes on my new bike. I tried to back peddle and wound up spinning them back over and over again screaming as I went down the hill. 

By the time I realized that I needed to use my hand brakes, I hit the little lip of concrete for the handicap accessible entrance which was a little over an inch off the ground. I had slammed my brakes hard. However instead of using the front and rear brakes together, I only had used my front brakes. With this one single action, I had given myself my first lesson in physics.

After using only my front brake I flew over my handle bars with the rear of the bike following after me. Because I was screaming, my mouth had been wide open. I can still hear the sound my teeth made when my jaw was slammed shut. After standing up, I was only thinking how happy I was that my tongue was not bitten off with the force of falling. 

It was only a blink later I realized my chin was bleeding pretty badly. Some of the gravel from the playground was stuck in my chin, and I began to cry. I felt bad that Aspenn and my brother had to walk me home earlier than they had wanted too because of me. 

After this happened, for a while at least, it was easier for everyone to tell the difference between Aspenn and I. This sometimes was a huge relief, at other times though it felt like I had lost something more than just a bit of skin off my chin.