Tonight we went to the blacktop at the elementary school so my 6-year-old daughter could practice riding her new bike. I hadn’t seen her ride a bike yet– she learned how to at bike camp a few weeks ago, but we hadn’t gotten a bike to fit her frame.
She zoomed steadily on her new pinkish purple strider. Pedal pedal pedaled with confidence. I had brought my speaker, so I asked if she wanted to jam to one of her tunes. “Are there any songs about bikes?” she asked.
“Yeah, there’s this one by Queen,” I said, as I pulled up the song “Bicycle Race.”
I put the song on and we pedaled around the blacktop together, her on her bike, me on mine. Freddie Mercury sang for us and I watched my girl feel the sense of freedom and joy offered by bike riding. I felt proud that she had picked it up quickly, but more than that, I felt happy that she could now feel the power she could generate on her own. The power to move herself through the world with deftness, and now, a little more speed.
Michelle Folk Johnson 