Last Sunday we bought Bay a bicycle for his birthday. When I went into the garage, the next day, the smell of the new bike tires coupled with the Austin heat and humidity brought back a memory of when I was maybe 11 or 12.

We were visiting family in Florida where my uncle had a bicycle shop. It was so great as a youngster to be there! I really wanted to replace my old Scwhinn Stingray (the frame was painted, so I am not sure if it really was a Schwinn or not) with a Mongoose. Of course my uncle wanted to give us new bikes but my mom refused. 🙁 One funny thing about that day was that my brother and I were taking turns riding a three-wheeled version of a bicycle behind the shop, and I couldn’t figure out how to turn the thing. I was leaning like you do on a two-wheeler, but not turning the handlebars. I ended up going straight into a fence. Fun stuff.

Funny how that smell of new bike tires brought back that memory.