My first solo bike ride

The year was 1966, and I was five years old and we just moved from Blanchester, to Madisonville, in Cincinnati, Ohio so my dad, Elmer wouldn't have to drive the seventy miles round trip to work each night he was driving to his job at Alis Chambers in Norwood Ohio. This was the first time I lived in the city with all the city sounds and the hustle and bustle that went with it. Up till now we always lived in the country except for a short time we lived in the town of Blanchester which I guess was like a city but on a smaller scale.
The biggest adjustment for me as a boy was not having the run of the land, which I always had, even in Blanchester, but in Madisonville it just was to dangerous with the roads and all the strangers. We Had a nice back yard that ended in an alley that I was allowed to play in, and the family that lived up on the second floor of the house my family rented had kids that played out in the yard also, so I had another little girl my age to play with plus some older kids.
Summer was long confined in that yard with a rusty swing set that would tip over if I swung to high, which I did way to often for my mom's liking so she made my dad get rid of the swings, but they got me a kids pool to play in which help make summer go by a little faster the pool and my little red huffy bike I got for Christmas that I would ride up and down the side walk from morning til night was what kept me busy all summer. My older brother one day decided it was time I learned to ride without the training wheels and he took them off, at first I was scared and wouldn't even try to ride, so he just parked my bike on the porch and told me that if I didn't try to learn by the end of the week he was going to give my bike away. It took me about three days to get the courage to try to learn and I finally said I was ready, so he ran beside me pushing as I pedaled and when he let go of me and I went about ten feet and fell over, but I was so excited that I rode the scrape on my elbow didn't even matter, after a few more falls it was like magic I was riding my bike. my little feet was pumping the pedals up and down and the bike was all mine to command to go where ever I wanted and I knew even then at five years old that with them two wheels under me I was going to have some great adventures on my bike. My mom, dad and brother were all so happy and proud of me they snapped a picture of me on my bike and told me this is so one day you can show your grandkids the day you learned to ride your bike. Its been forty five years since then and bikes are still a part of my life and yesterday my grandson learn to ride his bike without his training wheels and his grandma, mom, and I took a picture of him on his bike and today going through some old photos I found, well you guessed it, my picture of me on my bike and we are almost in the same pose.

Joe Ledington
Sabina Ohio