Everything started when I was two years old, I have two older cousins, they made tricks on their bicycles, I liked it but I didn't even had a tricycle, one time when I went to their home, I found a really tiny bicycle, after a year of having the idea on my mind, I started using it, I used to go to the rooftop and I went from wall to wall and crashed, I didn't knew how to use the breaks. When I turned four, my parents got me a bicycle, it was also tiny, green and with foam tires, I took the little training wheels out and started to learn properly.
Turning 5, the "Three Wise Men" got my another bicycle only this one was a "cross" type, I was able to do tricks but it was still for kids, that's when I started to go out more to the street, I learned how to jump side walks and little bottles of soda, I had that bicycle for around three years, because I was really little.
When I turned 8, I got a mountain bike which was heavier, so I started to go out more with my cousin and he took me to road trips to "Tres Marias". I didn't used any bicycle for around four years. When I turned 12 I started to build my own "BMX" bike, I began to make friends but no one really liked to use a bicycle so I had to learn how to skate, later I found a friend that had the same interests as me, we started to jump 30 cm, 40 cm, up to more than one meter, and we started to go to bowls.
That bicycle was built from old pieces, I bought a rusty frame, the wheels were pretty basic, one day when we were jumping the frame broke, I cried, I was fifteen, about to get into high school when that happened.
In high school I had more money so I bought things with better quality, I used my bike for everything, to get from my house to school, to work and all my way back, when I started my second year I started to miss classes and go out with my friends, I started to fail and I stayed there for a long time, the only thing I had was my bike.
I became a good biker when the accident occurred, it was a Tuesday, I went out on the morning to a park named "Huayamilpas", in that park there are ramps and bowls, I jumped outside the bowl when a guy in a skateboard passed, I thought I was going to hit him in the neck with the star of the bicycle, I leaned myself backwards to fall with my back. I still fell on him but the moment I hit the ground, the bicycle bounced and catch my leg, it hurt so bad, I couldn't even walk, I was by myself when it happened, I didn't know anyone, I got up using all of my strength and got home.
I was disabled for over a year, I didn't grabbed any bicycle for about year and a half, I still have that bike, but it has a cricked rim and it's a little rusty, I even took the chain off.
Weren't you afraid after that?
Not afraid, I was sad, I still have a sensitive knee, I can't do the same I used to do and if I do it I have to be more careful, not like before when I could fall and get up. I was depressed after that, I didn't had my bike, I wasn't able to do anything, I stopped playing football, I stopped doing a lot of activities, until two years ago.
I was working near "Interlomas" when they started realising the famous "Fixie" bikes, I passed a store where they sold them, they had one with a black frame, a green and a white rim, the first time I asked for the price it was $5500 so I left, after a month I passed again and they told me that now it was $4500. After two months I went again and they told that now it was $3000 and I was very tempted to buy it, but before I left the store, the sales assistant told me that it was now on sale, my eyes shined again with that, I bought it, I tried to adjust it with what I knew because the girl that sold it to me didn't knew anything, she just wanted to sell.
I went to Wal-Mart to get a chain, but I still had to get to work, so I left it outside, when I got out of work, I stared at it and though "Now I have it, how am I going to get home?"
I never travelled long distances, "BMX" are not designed for that, they are really small and now I had to go from work to my home (Over 20 km). I didn't knew what to do, the breaks didn't worked, I didn't knew if the tires were right, the chain was loose, I remembered about a route that could take me home but it was the worst decision I could ever made, I didn't had breaks and I was going downhill, as I never had a bike like that, there were a lot of things that I didn't knew about it, I had to stop backwards, it's taller, I was having less control, it was really different.
On the route there were open sewers, that's what I remembered the most, those bikes are not for jumping, and everyone was looking me like I was a weirdo, before I reached the sewer I pulled up the bike. It took me about 3 1/2 hours to get home instead of one.
When I got home I was all sweaty, but from there it started something new, I started to make trips to "Cuernavaca", "Toluca", "Teotihuacan" with a group of friends, we always make them big, like 10 or 15 of us to go out on the freeway,
The last trip was planned by a friend, when I asked how many were going he told me that we were going to be like 20 of us, weeks passed by and the day arrived, I met him on the subway station, first problem we had, we weren't allowed to get in with our bikes, we went to pick our friend up to another station that had the same problem, when we got to the meeting point I found out that the only people that were going were the three of us.
It was a really long trip to "Teotihuacan", we usually make about two hours, this time it took us four to get there, we had a lot of problems, first one of my friend's chain broke, then mine, the one of his tire's broke, then mine. Before we got to the toll booth, I got a flat tire but my friends didn't heard me, so I had to walk about two km with my bike. We got there, ate and headed back, we didn't wanted to head back but we had no money left.
On our way back we were going really fast on a downhill, when we all lost our brakes and a massive truck stopped in front of us, one of my friends was able to avoid it, I was able to stopped and crash, my other friend wasn't so lucky and he had to try and stop by putting his feet down, he burned the sole of his shoes and his bike broke.
The bike that has taken me to those places is the same bike that I didn't knew how to get home, has been and will be the love of my life, I still plan to do "BMX" but I don't know with my knee, I don't know if it works the same way. If I have the opportunity, I'll to make a special road for cyclists. I plan to have a mechanic workshop for bikes because I love them that much.
David.
