How I learnt to ride a bike

This morning I changed the handle covers (cubre manillares) of my bicycle, as they were already a little old and worn out (desgastados)... and, that gave me the idea for what I am going to tell you in today's story; how I learnt to ride a bike.

One beautiful Sunday morning, when I had just turned 6 years old, my family and I went to El Retiro so my brother and I could cycle a little around the park on our orange BH. Actually, I couldn't cycle yet, I still had to use those two little wheels that you put at he back of the bike, but my brother (he was 8 years old at the time) could, so he went first. After he had been riding for a while he said: "Come on, sit on the back of the bike and I will take you for a ride". It was probably not such a good idea, because not long after, we fell over... and to cut a long story short (para resumir), I broke my tibia.

It wasn't until I was about eight that I lost my fear of trying to ride a bike, but by then I felt "too old" to look clumsy (torpe) learning to cycle in front of everyone, so I never did. Whenever my friends at school met to go for a bicycle ride, I would just take my rollerskates (patines) to go with them, but to be honest I felt a little jealous and also frustrated.

Many years later -I was 19- I was on summer holidays in Galicia with my friend Cari. I don't know what got in me, and I suddenly told her looking at some people who were travelling on their bikes: "Cari, next year we are going to come here on our bikes" "But you can't cycle!" -she said. "I know, but I am going to learn" .

I don't think my friend believed me, but a month later I started going to the park behind my house at lunchtime (when there wasn't anybody in the park to see me) with my mum, who had also learnt to ride a bike as an adult... and that's how I finally learnt. 

A couple of months later, my friend Cari and I joined (nos apuntamos) a mountain bike group at university, to go on weekend excursions. At first I used to fall off my bike all the time, and people laughed at me saying: "they say people never forget to ride a bike, but you are probably the exception" I never told them I had in fact learnt two months before. But little by little, I got better... 

Needless to say, the following summer Cari and I went on a trip around Galicia on our bikes... and I have been in love with cycling ever since (desde entonces).

How about you; do you remember how you learnt to ride a bike?