Personal Project: Becoming a Biker

Whenever someone asks me where I’m from, I can proudly say I’m from New York City. But growing up in the city meant that I walked everywhere… and biked nowhere. “Hi, my name is Mary and I’m from NYC, and I don’t know how to ride a bike.” So as my personal project, I will learn how to ride the bike, and to get there, I will be apart of the Bloomington Community Bike Project.

If the Statue of Liberty can ride her bike, so can I

I have ridden a bike before in my life. I biked for fun when I was about ten years ago, and then I stopped. The last time I got on a bike was actually in May to see if I can incorporate another form of exercising. Yes, it has been about 13 years since I’ve sat on a bike seat, but it can’t be that difficult. Like everyone says: “It’s like riding a bike”. Well, for me, it was NOT like riding a bike. I fell off. Multiple times. Scars to prove it. I was running out of knee skin.

But now I’m back and more determined than ever to become a biker.  First stop, the Bloomington Community Bike Project. The project is a completely non-profit, volunteer run organization that allows anyone to ‘Earn-A-Bike’ through volunteering, or ‘Buy-A-Bike’. I will attempt to earn a bike by putting in a minimum of three volunteer hours in the shop, while learning everything bike-related, and at the end of those hours, I will get to build my own bike! There is a lot of anticipation to actually build a structure that can transport a person from one place to another. So I’m very excited to start learning and putting pieces together. Now just to get past the fear of getting back on the bike…. I am and will be as resilient as those little kids with the training wheels and kneepads. Except I won’t have a 4-wheel bike and I will be more than 3 feet off the ground. But I will be resilient. Stay tuned for the bike learning, building, and riding, and not falling!