I could define my life according to the type of bicycle I rode, at any given age. When I was in the pre-tricycle phase, in the 70s, I absolutely loved my bright yellow banana cycle – it was actually yellow and it looked like a banana! Then, of course, I got a traditional little red tricycle. I have a great picture and good memories of my first “big girl” bike. My mom and dad were quite thrifty, so they bought an old bike frame and dad painted it for me. I got to pick out a cool “banana seat” with blue, yellow and pink sparkles all over it, and he even attached streamers to the ends of the handlebar covers.  Next, I moved up to the latest craze of the 80s - the 3-speed bike. It was pale blue, and I felt really tall while I was riding it. I remember that it took a little while to get the hang of changing gears while pedaling. When I was a teenager in the ’80s, I thought my brothers and their biker friends were the coolest! They all had hip BMX bikes, and they would spend hours painting the frames, greasing the chains and creating wooden ramps to jump over . Then, they would blare out the Beastie Boys on the boombox, put on their parachute pants, and spend hours developing their tricks along the sidewalk. I cherished the sharp 10-speed bike I got when I was in high school. It was a metalic blue, with a sleek design; the handlebars were wrapped with blue tape and curved down under the main grip – you held onto the curved portion to work the brakes. Then I grew up and became a mom, and I got one of those cool plastic seats to put my baby on the back of my bike, just like my mom did for me when I was a baby!

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