Spring - 2005:
Earlier in the day I planted a skinny little 6' tall Liquid Amber tree to the side of our driveway, cute little tree, a gift from my wife’s Sister.
I just finished putting a front wheel on my wife’s vintage Nishiki 10 speed, a bike that her father gave her some years ago, she loves her late father so the bike means a great deal to her. All clean, waxed and shiny, I took it for a spin down the driveway and back. The bike is amazing, it has always felt very solid and smooth, every once of power goes to the back wheel...humm... Well anyway, my wife saw me riding her bike and wanted to take it for a spin, so I adjusted the saddle for her and off she went. She would go all the way down the drive (300'😉 and on to the lawn and make a big turn around the Aspen tree and then backup the drive, all the time making right turns. This time she decides to go the opposite way and make a big left turn around the Aspen tree with a little more speed. She was doing fine until she came a little too close the fence and she started to panic, then as if the bike had a mind of it's own, the bike started tracking the little Amber tree I planted earlier, tracking, tracking, her feet come off the pedals like landing gear on a 727, tracking, tracking, 10 yards, 5 yards..... Boom. One hand on the handlebars the other wrapped around the amber tree. She finally let go of the bike and it rolled and toppled softly in the grass a few feet away. There she was, flat on her butt with the Amber tree branch bent and tucked in her armpit with another branch with leaves covering half of her face. A face that was laughing so hard she could hardly catch her breath. She finally let go of the tree and it flipped straight up like a catapult launching stones at the Roman Army. She must of sat there for 10 minutes laughing, she laughed so hard that I started to laugh uncontrollably and I think our dogs were laughing too.
Now and again when she passes that Amber tree she gets a big grin on her faces and she has improved on her left turns.
Lw