Tristan Laclé

English 101

Persistence is key.  Every goal we make, every challenge we stand up to, persistence is the main attribute in everyday life.  Experiences in life force you to become persistent, for example a career.  When I was growing up, my parents and grandparents constantly reminded me and drilled the concept of never giving up through my skull and into my brain. Everyday we are in some way required to be persistent, at work, school, even in our home life.  Part of this persistency requires another adverb; creativity.  Some obstacles in life will force us to become significantly creative to overcome them.  For me and for many others, this creativity was inspired by curiosity.  By being curious, it allows us to concept together ideas and ways to achieve our goals, and one common goal we all shared (hopefully), was riding a bicycle.

This brings me back to the beginning of it all, the tricycle.  Before I could handle balancing two wheels, I had to take it in steps and begin with three.  The tricycle taught me the basics; how to pedal, steer, sit.  Soon enough I was riding around little red preschool, zipping by other children and hearing the wind scream back in my face.  Shortly after learning the tricycle, I came home one sunny evening to my father putting training wheels on what was my brand new Huffy.  I was ecstatic to see this, as my older brother had been able to ride a mountain bike for years.  Off I went my next step in learning how to ride, stumbling and falling down, occasionally balancing for a substantial amount of time.  Finally, I thought.  Now is my time, to take the training wheels off and accomplish this with no help once and for all.  The first few times were rough, I would consistently lean to one side or the other, and soon become agitated.  But as I once started with the tricycle, I had to keep trying, I wanted to know what is was like to fly down the streets on two wheels, leaning left and right to overcome the sharp corners.  Then, like nothing, I was riding.  I was riding with no hesitation, no lack of confidence, and no fear.

Now I could ride a bike.  I could switch the gears and hear the satisfying click as the gears changed.  But I still lacked something, I was still curious, was there more?  That’s when I tried what I thought was dangerous; riding with one hand.  Woohoo! I screamed inside my head as I finally accomplished riding with one hand, I thought I was amazing.  Not long after though, I was riding down the streets with no hands.  Little did I know what I had been preparing for down the line.

Following a few years after this is when it really began.  I became intensely involved in BMX, I wanted to learn how to flatland (spinning, rolling, parking lot tricks).  Time machine’s, Hitchikers, smoothies, stick b-s, they all sparked my curiosity.  But as I did with once learning to ride a bike, I was concentrating on taking on these goals in steps.  The wheelie was the first trick I learned, and boy did I love learning it.  I received my first bmx bike for free by a friend, and every wheelie I did after that I did longer and longer, faster and faster, I had it mastered.

As to where I am today, I now own a custom made flatland bike that cost a little over $2000 to put together.  Some of the above named tricks, ive accomplished, and there many more to come following.  There are many moments in life, were if you consider your circumstance, you may just be on the first step of many.  This is why I have chosen to never give, to never falter and if you do, consider another way, another option to make whatever it is you dream to do come true.