By: Giovanni Ngai

“Mom, when will you finally take my training wheels off?” Most people learn how to ride a bike first by using training wheels and then taking them off when they feel ready. However, other people just magically know how to ride a bike. If you are one of those lucky people, you are not alone, because that is also what happened to me. I magically knew how to ride a bike without ever needing to use training wheels. Just wait, though; it gets even crazier.

The story starts when I was eight or nine years old. It was during the middle of the summer when I first attempted to ride a bicycle. I had a little BMX-style bike that was green. It came with training wheels, but they were broken when the bike arrived. My parents were going to buy me a new bike, but I told them, “Let me just try to ride it first,” and they agreed. They stood next to me, and I pushed off. But what really also played an important part in how I “magically” knew how to ride a bicycle was where I did it.

Where I first attempted to ride a bicycle was on a street right in front of my old apartment. What was special about this area was that it was downhill. So, when I pushed off, I did not need to pedal in order to go forward; gravity took care of that. When I was half way down the hill, I just started pedaling, and I felt like I already knew how to ride a bicycle. When I reflected, however, I thought that maybe I could only ride a bike when going downhill. Later, I pedaled uphill, and I surprisingly did it! My mom was so proud of me.

There are two ways to learn how to ride a bicycle, and one of them is by just going downhill, putting your feet on the pedals, and starting to pedal. I, however, learned in an unusual way. Which method did you use to learn how to ride a bicycle? Maybe it is more interesting than how I learned it.