The Joy of Biking Wins Again.
Posted by Vanessa McCracken Sunday, March 20, 2011
I had the privilege of watching someone fall in love with bicycling today.
A husband dragged his wife into the shop because he wanted her to have a bike so that she could ride with the rest of the family. She was not even remotely interested in riding a bike with them. She had tried riding her husband’s bike a couple times and hated it. “Bikes are scary,” she said. “They are so uncomfortable,” she said. “I can never figure the gears out,” she said. “I’m going to fall,” she said. I picked out a cushy bike in an appropriate size for her, and showed her how to use the shifters and brake levers. I also showed her what the gears meant and talked about when to use them. I put a helmet on her and sent her for a test ride.
She was gone for awhile.
She was gone for a long while.
She was gone so long I started to worry that maybe something had happened, and I was right, something DID happen. She was having fun riding a bicycle! She finally rolled back up to the shop, hopped off the bike, and yelled excitedly her husband, “That was so much fun! That wasn’t scary at all! I did not know that riding a bicycle could be so much fun! That was so easy! This bike was so comfortable! Oh my gosh, that was so much fun! The gears were easy to use! I want to go again!”
I am not making this up. I couldn’t get her off the bike. I have never witnessed a bigger or faster flip-flop in someone’s attitude towards bicycling in my nine years of business. Her apprehension dissolved once we got her on a bike that was the right size for her (she was even more vertically challenged than I am), and her intimidation lessened once she understood how everything worked and why. She fell in love with bicycling right before my eyes, and now she won’t be left behind when her husband and two young sons go on rides.
I love my job!
