A little something about me

I'm a 40 year old mother of two living in the Greater Boston area who loves to ride her bicycle. I grew up riding bicycles, including riding bicycles to go to the pool, since my mother did not have a license and never drove a car. I resented the increasing limitations on where we could ride our bikes as my mother got more and more frightened by traffic. I learned on Schwinns, graduated to a 3 speed and when I got my first 10 speed much later (used, when I was 25, and I don't remember a thing about it), I had a horrible time figuring out the gears. Which is why it sat, unused, until I got rid of it.

When I was nearly 30, I got a commuter bike, but again, the gears intimidated me, traffic frightened me, I lived on a steep hill in the city and the bike could have had an upright riding position, but the riser was way too low and I didn't know you could bring it up or swap it out.

When I was 33, I went to the Netherlands, and noticed that what I thought were one-speeds had gears. But they were the gears of my childhood 3 speed, easy to use, impossible to strand oneself in a high gear and be unable to start up again. When I was 34, I went back to the Netherlands and rode a tandem with my then-fiance, now husband and father of my two children. We had arguments about whether a Dutch-type bike could be found in the US. For my 34th birthday, I asked for a women's Bianchi Milano Cafe Racer with the 8 speed Nexus Shimano. I wanted a Townie, but they only came with 3 speeds at the time. I rode it a ton on the Nashua River Trail, and a couple times I rode on the streets from our house in Brookline, NH to the trailhead.

When I was 36, I had my son. When I was 37, I bought a Wee Ride infant seat which banged my knees but was lots of fun to ride around with my son between my arms. When I was 38 or so, I bought a Bike Tutor, that didn't let him nap, but banged my knees not at all and helped him learn balance. When I was 39, I bought him a Kettler Balance bike and he fell in love with it, riding it up and down the driveway. When I was 40, I got my Townie, with Bobikes Mini and Maxi, and a front tray. I also got a second mount for the Mini for the Bianchi, a dynohub, framelocks for both bikes, and a Moose Rack and Burley Kazoo for the Bianchi. Today, I rode my bike to the hair salon, to a restaurant for lunch, and around the subdivision with my son. I love to ride my bicycle. I want you to love to ride your bicycle, too, and to discover that you can have huge fun and get stuff done at the same time.

In the months since I first wrote these pages, the weather has changed from hot to cold. But my husband still takes the Bianchi with the Kazoo in to preschool every day to drop off our son, and I still use it to pick him up. My son and I ride all over our compact village, and we like to get groceries in the evening, so we can ride back after dark with the lights on. I'm currently looking forward to getting a string of battery-powered LED Christmas lights to string on the bike for the holiday season.

Copyright 2009, Rebecca Allen
Created: July 10, 2009
Updated: November 23, 2009