Just Like Riding a Bike

by Toni L.P. Kelner

This weekend was a momentous one for the Kelners. My daughters made the transition to riding two-wheelers.

Maggie, age 11, had become more and more embarrassed by the fact that she hadn't mastered the bicycle, no matter how much I reminded her that she'd had very few chances to practice, thanks to weather and a myriad of other delays. You see, every day she saw kids much younger than she was zipping along, and she was getting dangerously close to giving up all together.

My husband and I were trying to encourage her without pushing, but it was a tough line to draw. It's been many moons since I learned to ride a bike, and mostly what I remembered of the process was trial and error, plus lots of scrapes and bruises. I couldn't explain that to Maggie, so I kept yelling things like, "Keep going!" and "Peddle faster!" and "Turn!" It wasn't helpful.

Maggie was taking a break, which she'd been doing more and more of as the afternoon progressed, and I was feeling restless. I'd been making excuses for not getting on a bike myself--it had been fifteen years for me, too, the bike was too small, and I was never a particularly good rider. But I remembered that it used to be fun. So I climbed onto Maggie's bike, and about a minute of fumbling, I rode away. There's a reason they say, "It's just like riding a bike." It was still fun, too!

I was staying up, more or less, even though I wasn't peddling particularly fast or steering particularly accurately. I realized the one thing I had that Maggie was still missing was balance. I hopped off again, and my husband and I came up with ways Maggie could practice balancing. Within half an hour, she had it.

Meanwhile, Valerie, age 8, had been happily going along on her training wheels, but upon seeing her sister's example, she wanted them removed. And replaced. Then removed again. Like Maggie, she had the peddling and steering part, but needed the balance. (Well, she had the peddling anyway.) So we got her started practicing, and in an hour or so, she was riding for real, too.

The four of us ended up spending a great deal of time on our bikes this weekend, and a good time was had by all. So what does this have to do with writing?

First, there's the way Maggie felt bad because she didn't bike as well as other people her age. As a writer, when I see books by brand-new writers hitting the bestseller lists, giving up seems almost reasonable. But just as I knew Maggie shouldn't give up, I know I shouldn't give up, either. Of course, while it was reasonably sure that Maggie would be able to ride a bike eventually, there's no such certainty that I'll ever hit a bestseller list, but both of us will have fun rides.

Then there's my initial reluctance to get on the bike, which is something I feel every time I approach a new project. I have to get restless and remind myself of how much fun it is before I climb into the saddle, or onto my desk chair to get to work. Pretty soon, I'm zooming away, and have forgotten why I hesitated. (And fortunately, my chair is a whole lot easier on my tail end than a bicycle seat.)

Next there's my realization of what it was Maggie needed to put the pieces together. When I try to explain writing to a new writer, it's the same story for me. So many of the basics--typing, grammar, spelling, dialog--are instinctive for me, and I don't always remember how hard it was to balance those elements at first.

Finally there's Valerie watching her big sister master a new skill and wanting to do the same. As a writer, I'm constantly learning from the skills and success of other writers--particularly the other Femmes. Like Valerie and her on-again, off-again training wheels, I have had and will continue to have false starts, but knowing that my colleagues have persevered inspires me to keep peddling.

Comments

[Jen]

Tell Maggie not to feel bad! I didn't learn how to ride a bike until I was 11 either! It just scared me so bad but all the other kids in my neighborhood could so after watching them for a few hours I borrowed one of their bikes and just took off.

[Toni LP Kelner]

I think part of the problem these days is that with traffic and other parental worries, kids don't have as many opportunities to ride. So Maggie had to learn from me, rather than picking it up from other kids, who are probably much better riders.

[Connie]

Congratulations to Maggie and Valerie. Can't wait to see them on the bikes. I know how they feel. Bill, Karen and I took Camron and Katie to the bike trail last week (after buying ME a bike, old fashioned of course!) I actually did pretty good, having not been on one in at least 20 years! They were shocked that MeMa could ride one! See you soon! Love you all!!

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[Norah]

You write very well.