Bicycle, bicycle

So since I had my birthday this past week, I received a few presents. Now Chris and I had been discussing what he should get me. And he decided a bike would be a good gift! I had not had my own bike since I was about 11 or so. One of those mini 5 speed mountain bikes that was this shiny purple color. I loved that bike and rode it constantly, even letting my neighbor friends ride it at times. Now Talia gave piano lessons to this family with 3 boys. The middle one was a a few years younger than me and was always trying to impress me and Lydia with his stories and everything he did(never really worked much). So I let him ride bike once and I'm inside when by brother, Elijah comes inside holding this extremely bent and twisted wheel. I'm like, "Um, where this at from?" "Your bike," he says. So this kid had been riding it when I guess he ran into a Schwann's truck, so he jumped off and the bike was ran over. This was rather tragic to me and I must say I was not very happy at all with this kid, nice way to me impress, dude. So since then, never had my own bike. Just rode my siblings and friends and all.

So Chris decided it was time I had my own, plus then we could go bike riding together!

Now I really had no idea what kind I wanted. There are way too many styles, I mean cruiser, mountain, hybrid, comfort, road, all-terrain, classic, you name it. So we decided to just browse around in stores to see what I liked best. So off we went on a rainy Saturday afternoon, along with our younger siblings(we're not allowed to totally out alone together). We headed to Target first. My eyes always went directly to the pink bikes first. :) So we get one down and I ride it up and down and the aisle. We're standing there in the aisle along with one of the employees, and I, being the complete and utter klutz that I am, completely fall over on the bike! Into a rack breaking one of their hanging deals. Wow, I'm sitting there thinking what a retard. They run over afraid I'm hurt, since apparently I almost impaled myself on this metal hook. I'm fine, the bike is fine. My pride and dignity on the otherhand, a tad bruised. So we decide to go check out a few more places. We head over to Sports Authority and I try out a pink(yes, I know, I'm rather pathetic) mountain bike up and down and aisles. Not my particular favorite as far as comfort goes. So we know of this bike shop so we head there. Bike Source is a rather sweet store, I tell you. Three stories worth of every kind of bike you could ever want and plenty of room to test them out. They have like a million cruiser type of bikes with some pretty extreme paint jobs. Orange and yellow with flowers, blue and white striped with "sail with me" on the seat, hideous lime green with pink hibiscuses and of course you can't forget the streamers and baskets. Not exactly what I'm looking for. Also I'm not really into the high, curved handlebars of these types of bikes. So we head downstairs to see about bikes down there. I test out a few riding them all around. Our younger siblings, Josiah and Elizabeth are having quite a ball riding all around as well. The main one we were considering was Globe Carmel, a hybrid type I guess. And not pink! So it's getting late and we need to pick up pizza for dinner. So we do that and then go and look at WalMart to see their selection. They've got a few nice pink mountain bikes. I really couldn't decide which one I wanted at all. There were too many pros and cons and price differences.

The day of my party comes, a week later, I still have no idea which one I want. So during my party Chris leaves for a little while and comes back in time for food and presents. I had no idea where he ran off to. So after opening all my presents he asks if I want another one. I'm like why not.

So he rolls in this! Bow tied to the handlebars and all! The Carmel!

So I really didn't get much chance to ride it until last night when Chris came over for the specific purpose of going bike riding with me. So my dad decided after some arguing and skepticism and persuading from my mom to let us go by ourselves! I have not yet gotten my own helmet, so I had to borrow one from him. It's a little too large so the whole time I'm riding it's falling back on head, practically choking me. But we took this bike path near our house, which was quite nice! I had never been all the way before, so new places! My dad calls later telling us it's just about dinner time, and all he hears from me in the background is "I can hardly breathe." I happened to be adjusting my helmet and whining about it. haha. And then once we're home I'm talking about the helmet and Lydia comes in the room just as I say, "I was being choked." I have impeccable timing obviously. So she decided we had been mugged. lol

But my bike rides incredibly well, uphill and down thanks to the 21 speeds, the seat is comfortable, and I can reach the pedals and the handlebars comfortably.

So there's my bicycle story. Thanks, Chris! :)