
The Most Proudest Day of My Life
One day that I will never, ever forget was the day I finally learned how to ride a bike without training wheels! It was the proudest moment of my whole entire life so far. I'm going to tell you all about it.
It all started a few months before on my 7th birthday. My parents got me the coolest present - a shiny new bicycle! It was red with black tires and white handlebars. I loved it more than anything as soon as I saw it. But there was one problem. It had training wheels on the back to help keep it balanced. I knew all the big kids at school didn't use training wheels anymore so I really wanted to learn to ride without them.
At first, my mom and dad said I should just practice riding with the training wheels for a little while until I got used to pedaling and steering. But after a few weeks, I was already a pro at riding around the neighborhood with those silly little wheels. I started begging them every single day to take the training wheels off so I could learn to ride like a real big kid. Finally, they agreed to let me try.
The first couple times without the training wheels were...not good. I got on the bike, pushed off with my feet, and immediately went crashing right over to the ground! Ouch! My knees and elbows got scraped up pretty bad. My parents wanted to put the training wheels back on, but I insisted I could do it. I just needed to keep practicing every single day.
So that's what I did. As soon as I got home from school, I would rush outside and try riding my bike around the driveway over and over again. I must have fallen down a hundred times those first few weeks! My poor knees looked like strawberries from all the scabs and bandages. But I didn't care, I was determined.
Slowly but surely, I started getting just a little bit better. Instead of crashing after just a few feet, I could stay up for a whole driveway length. Then two driveway lengths. My arms and legs were covered in bruises and scratches, but they just showed how hard I was working.
My parents kept encouraging me, telling me that I was making great progress and not to get discouraged. Sometimes my little sister would come outside and laugh at me when I fell, but I just brushed myself off and ignored her. This was too important to let her laughing stop me.
After what felt like forever but was really just a couple months, I finally started to get the hang of balancing and steering. The fear of crashing slowly turned into a feeling of total control and freedom. I was riding!
One sunny day, I was out practicing as usual when something just clicked. I was going around the driveway, turning from the driveway to the sidewalk, circling around our yard, and not falling a single time. It was like I had been doing it forever.
Right when that thought hit me, my trainer wheel-using days were officially over. I shouted out "Mom! Dad! Come watch! I can really ride nowwwwww!" I yelled at the top of my lungs as I zoomed up and down the block. They both came running outside, cheering louder than I've ever heard.
I just smiled from ear-to-ear, feeling totally accomplished and on top of the world. All those weeks of scraped knees, bruised arms, and frustrating crashes had finally paid off in the most amazing way. I was free! Free from those stupid training wheels that I had outgrown. I could properly ride a bike just like a big kid.
From that day on, my bike became my favorite thing in the universe. I would ride up and down every street in the neighborhood, seeing how far I could go without getting too tired to pedal back home. My parents didn't have to worry about me staying nearby anymore. I was in complete control.
At the time, overcoming the challenge of learning to ride a two-wheeler was the hardest thing I had ever accomplished through sheer perseverance and determination. No adults were there holding me up or keeping me steady. It was alljust me, improving through labored practice every single day.
That feeling of pride, joy, and freedom still sticks with me to this day, years later. Any time I start getting frustrated over something difficult, I just think back to the hurdles I overcame as a kid in mastering that bicycle. I remember that if I focus hard enough and keep trying my absolute best, I can overcome just about any obstacle.
So while someday soon there will surely be even greater achievements and skilled I acquire, there is no topping the profound sense of pride I felt the first time I realized I could cruise around the neighborhood unaided on two wheels. It was the first major example of hard work and persistency paying off for me in a big way. And that made it the proudest moment of my little life so far.
