as easy as riding a bike

I first learned to ride a bike out of spite. At 5, my best friend and I hadn't moved past training wheels, and my 7-year-old neighbor had some choice words for us. We had not been "babies" in a very long time, so we rushed inside to cry to my mom.

Instead of commiserating with us, my mom took us outside to learn in the front yard. She took off the training wheels, set the bikes in the grass, and told us to hop on. We rushed over, jumped on our bikes, pedaled, and immediately crashed into the grass. My neighbor's words rang out in our ears. We picked ourselves up, dusted ourselves off, and tried again.

After an hour of consistent practice, we paraded ourselves past our neighbor's house with no training wheels in sight. She never congratulated us or apologized or took back what she said, but proving her wrong was enough to spark a lifelong love of the freedom that comes with riding a bicycle.