“You nervous buddy”, my dad says.
“No”. “Are you excited ”.
“No”.
We were on the way to school, I was about to ride my bike with no training wheels for the first time. I really was nervous and scared but I didn’t want my dad to know it. No training wheels is like the first milestone as a kid so it was a big deal and I didn’t want to screw up the first time.

Six years old and just out of a car seat sitting in back of the old Ford Explorer thinking about falling of my bike and dying. Not such a great attitude going in to something new. I looked at the clock, 2:34,not long until I would be on the ground in pain. As we were pulling around the back of the school all I did was stare at the pavement and think about how painful it would be to fall. I could split my head open, even though I was wearing a helmet, or scrape up my knees and elbows. All of my worries were about falling.

My dad pulled in to a parking spot and put the car in park. I was so nervous, I couldn’t stand it. I could just imagine the outcome of this event.

“There’s nothing to worry about”, my dad said

I thought completely opposite of that. A lot of things that could go wrong and there was no huge benefits, so I don’t know why I has to even try. I hated it when my dad pulled my old little red bike out of the car my heart sank. I looked at the bike and thought about riding it without the wheels. He got out a wrench and twisted the wheels off that kept me up all those times before. My dad handed me my Power Rangers helmet and told me to put it on to be safe. That wasn’t the best thing he could have said at the time.

I began to feel sick as I stepped over the bike and sat down on the seat. At the time the seat of my bike felt like a board with nails in it. The handlebars felt like sand paper. The shoes on my feet were like boa constrictors trying to squeeze the life out of me. I just wanted to rip off the helmet and run. My stomach was turned upside down and wrapped around my brain. The sunscreen that covered my face was like acid burning a hole in it. The sound of the warm summer breeze was nails on a chalkboard. My dad told me that he would be right behind me the whole time but I didn’t trust him. I hated it; I didn’t feel like I could move. I felt awful, I didn’t want anything to do with riding my bike or being where I was.

Up to that point that was the scariest time of my life. I could feel the relief coming, hoping that my dad would let me go home. I didn’t want to go on and I’m pretty sure my stomach unwrapped itself from my brain He gave me a little push and I dragged my feet immediately. As soon as I thought that my dad said.

“Don’t be scared, it’ll feel just the same as with the wheels on”.

“I don’t want to fall.”

This time he gave me a bigger push and yelled to me to pedal. I obeyed ad then I was off. It was the most amazing thing, overcoming my fear and doing it in a fun way. The best part was the wind blowing in my face like it never had before. With training wheels you can’t go very fast but know mine were gone and I could go as fast as I wanted. I wasn’t scared anymore and I didn’t even think about the words fall, crash, or scrape.

“You’re doing great, buddy”, my dad said

“I know, this is easier than I thought it would be” I said.

I was excited and I rode my bike until almost dark. When I got home I ran in to the house at top speed and told my mom about my accomplishment. She told that she was very proud and that now I could go biking with my grandparents.

To this day I still love biking and now I go off road but I certainly don’t use training wheels, all because of that one day at the school when I overcame my fear of falling and did what I was scared of.