the bicycle

We lived there less than a year.
In a Cape Cod -sytle home, on the "S" curve of U.S. Highway 83, about three blocks from the railroad track.  Also, about 3 blocks from the school I attended, Saint Raymonds.
I was 7 years old, so some of it is a bit foggy in my mind,... I was a child and paid more attention to childish things.

I remember that was were I learned to ride a 2-wheeler bicycle at last. There were training wheels on my little bicycle, and I was still uncertain about having that "safety net" taken away.  One day, though, I asked my dad to remove one of the training wheels.  This was mainly because I had heard more than one person comment that I was no longer actually using the training wheels.  I told dad that I would try riding it in the back yard, on the grass, if that was ok with him.... so that, if I fell the ground would be more gentle than the pavement.  Do you remember how difficult it can be to pedal a bicycle on grass?  Right, that lasted about 10 minutes.  I walked the bicycle to the front of the house and rode up and down on the sidewalk a couple of times.  Dad came out front to watch.  "Oh dad, take the other training wheel off, I don't need it!" I proclaimed.  And there I went! off down the sidewalk and back again.... and then, something I did not expect.... we put my little bicycle, which was the perfect size for me, into the truck of the car and drove to Bade's Bicycle Shop on Prairie Avenue at Center Street, in Des Plaines, Illinois.

The building that was once Bade's Bike Shop..... the trees were not there when I was 7......

I was instructed to pick out a "big" bicycle.  I picked out a blue bike and my dad had them install a basket on the front, and a bell on the handlebars.

The honest truth is that bicycle was too big,... I was not tall enough. But I could not let dad down, I had to accept that bicycle and ride it.  It was probably a good lesson in what I like to call "you gotta wanna",.... but it was also a dangerous thing, and we were all lucky that I did not fall or lose control or get hurt.  My dad was just so excited for me to ride a "real" bike, and at the same time not really in so much of a hurry for me to grow up.

I had that bicycle for 6 years. 

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SCHWINN

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