Biking and cycling are in my family. I recently found a contract my mother made me sign when she bought me my first real bike. It was a long time coming, and she didn't want anything to happen to it, so she drafted a contract right in the store essentially saying, "I will take care of this bike and won't let anyone else ride it, or else my mother gets the bike back." Then we both signed it, and she had the bike shop owners sign it too! When I find the note again, I'll scan it and post here.
So many of my childhood adventures are bicycle-based. My sister and I went on an unauthorized bike trip along the Rock Creek Park trail and got injured. When my mother found out, she was furious with my sister, and I had to write one thousand times, "I will not leave the house without my mother's permission." I was probably eight or 9 years old.
There was another time when my mother chaperoned me and my friends on a bike trip from DC to Mount Vernon. My friends though she was so cool, and their parents thought she was insane and superhuman to be willing and able to keep up with us.
Around the 10th grade, my mother and I visited some friends in Colorado Springs and also visited the US Olympic training facility there. I got to walk inside a velodrome and just about fell in love. I actually thought I was gonna go to the Olympics!
The height of my cycling adventures occurred after college, however. I rode from NYC to Boston in the AIDSRide over four days, raised some money, lost some weight and gained mad confidence. It was the most difficult physical challenge I have ever faced.
Wow, I have a lot of bike memories. I'll share more later, but this TV trailer really got me going. This dude, Rahsaan Bahati, has an amazing story. Be sure to check out The Bahati Foundation which is also on Twitter.