I shared in my post a few weeks back about how I started cycling again, and hope for the women/ladies in my community to join me, so far I've seen some interested young girls who want me to teach them how to, but the problem is they want to cycle in hiding to prevent their parent from scolding them, and I'm one that hates keeping secrets since I'm not involved in any criminal or bad activity, cycling is a form of exercise and fun, so what I do is to still talk to their parents to make them see reasons why they shouldn't deny their daughters the cycling fun, but there is still the usual excuse of their religion not permitting women, which makes me very upset
Anyways, cycling found me a new friend in the neighbourhood, a young boy of about 10 years, named Victor, on one of my weekend trips riding around my neighborhood to keep to my resolution of weekend cycling, I saw a young boy watching me intently as I cycled by, as I made a u-turn back around the street toward my house, I spotted him still standing in the same spot, looking very curious like his eyes were speaking to me, I couldn't pass by, so I stopped and asked if he was interested in bicycles. His eyes lit up as he nodded eagerly. He introduced himself as Victor and explained that he had always wanted to learn how to ride a bike but his family couldn't afford to buy him one. My heart melted realizing this boy was envious of something many take for granted. In that moment,
I made it my personal mission to help Victor experience the simple joy of cycling. What I love about him is his bold and resilient nature, I still had to get permission from his mother though, gladly, his mother didn't have a problem with him learning, it's been almost 2 weeks of learning, and I'm amazed at how fast he learned, we used my compound space for a start for safety reasons.
At first, I demonstrated, then showed him proper hand placement, and also worked on balance and coordination just coasting the bike while I held the back steady, encouraging him to look ahead not down. Once he got a feel for balancing, I showed him how to pedal from a stationary position. Those first wobbly attempts led to some funny sideways falling, but Victor would just laugh and try again with tireless optimism.
Within the hour, he was pedaling entire slow laps around the compound, I taught him how to use the brakes gently and scan for bumps in his path, Control and confidence grew swiftly thanks to his determination to master each skill I presented. Victor started getting the hang of balancing without any assistance. By the end of that first lesson, he was beaming ear to ear and begging his mom to let him go for bike lessons daily lol, but Aunty has other work to do, she replied him, but I assured him that I would sacrifice some days during the week, and the weekend as well, so we would always cycle together, and so I did. The pure celebration on his face when he first pedaled a full loop around my compound was so heartwarming. I'll never forget watching him beam with joy.
Over the next few weekends, I supervised Victor practicing starts and stops, making wider turns around obstacles, and controlling his speed. His confidence grew exponentially. Pretty soon, he could ride smoothly around my entire compound without any guidance, so I decided we try a less busy street.
Knowing how much self-assurance and satisfaction cycling was giving Victor, I was determined to help this motivated boy keep growing his skills.so I would rather some of my savings to get him a bicycle first, I had planned to get myself one, but I think this young boy deserves it first.
I feel so honored to be playing a part in shaping his eager mind, confidence, and capabilities at such a formative time in his life. My original purpose of getting back into cycling for fitness has now multiplied into also helping someone fulfill his desire to cycle. I look forward to him also spreading the joy of cycling with his friends who desire this but are less opportune.
All images used are mine,