The last time I was on a bike I was twelve. My mother decided that she should finally get round to teaching me.

It, um, sort of backfired. I was terrified. I could just about ride the thing for about five metres before I had to stop and do special breathing to stop hyperventilating with terror.

Mum persevered for about six months, but it was the time I got stuck on the beach heading out into the waves with jammed handlebars, crying and flailing and eventually falling off that convinced her that maybe I should just walk while the rest of my family cycled.

I used to love my bike....
who could forget the time I decided to go down a steep hill as fast as I could, without using the brakes at all, only to run straight into the back of a 4x4 truck? Another superb example of my amazing IQ.

And Brimstone hasn't died yet?

She's got a luggage rack and I'm planning to put thingies on to make her more steampunkier. I've already got a squirrel skull.

1st Accident

I was just learning how to ride a bike and we figured it was safe to do in the backyard. At the time we were constructing a shed, so both parents and an uncle were in the yard to keep an eye on me. Our backyard is situated on a hill, a perfect way to learn to control your bike as your gaining speed. Well, I went down the hill and fell straight into a horseshow spike. I fell onto it and bruised the inside of my thigh and got my ankle caught in the bike chain.

2nd Accident

This was several years later. I was out riding with one of my sisters around the block in our neighborhood. We had to go in since I was going to a sleepover with a friend that night. We figured one more time around the block wouldn't hurt, but we agreed to turn it into a race. The way it would work was that we would start in the same spot but we would go in different directions. We made it to the far corner at the same time and were trying to turn the corner at the same time. Unfortunately, we both decided to go the same way when we turned. My front wheel met her back wheel and while she went down, I went over the handlebars. I scrapped up both my knees and elbows. The only thing she got was a small bump on the head, despite wearing a helmet.

1 Near Mishap

You always hear about people who run over animals in their car. Well, I had the distinct pleasure of almost running over an animal while on my bike. I saw it just in enough time to stop before I hit the chipmunk. When I looked down, there was probably a few centimeters between my front tire and the chipmunk.

Those few incidents were enough to teach me to be a lot more careful on my bike.

Actually, I can't, but I love my bike anyway. It is blue.

Hm...favorite bike story? When I was first learning to ride, I had training wheels and no matter how much my parents tried to convince me, I refused to take 'em off. So one day my mom "accidentally" ran over them in her van, and with no help whatsoever I took 'em off, hopped on, and started pedaling around.

And then there's the time I almost fell off a cliff my first time riding my current bike...went over a rock weird, got thrown, and was semi-dangling and flipping out a bit until my brother came to pull me up. This is why we bike in pairs, yes.

I named her Alpina (no idea why). She's purple and amazing. However, I manage, with alarming frequency, to run into parked cars and always when there are a bunch of people around to gawk at me.

I'm lucky enough to live near a regional park and a sizeable creek, so now that it's summer, my mom's taking me out more often to ride around. I think we actually did a nine or ten miler the other day, and so far I've almost run over a dead skunk and a live ground squirrel. The skunk was not pleasant.

I love cycling, but am far too good at getting bikes nicked, so haven't had one in years. Longest journey by bike was to the seaside - the railway line from here to the various towns on the east coast was taken out decades ago, and is now a cycle track. Thirteen miles to Hornsea. My arse didn't half hurt afterwards, and it was a hot and sweaty day so we were all covered in thunderbugs (what they're really called, I don't know). And then there was ice cream. Fun times.

but every bike I have breaks on me. Mainly the gears. In the end, I gave up.