It all started with an OLLIE

That's Ollie in the upper left corner.

Many of us look back and can pinpoint in our lives when things changed and made us who we are today.  Looking back I now know that my triathlon training really started way earlier than 2010.  It all started with OLLIE.  Ollie was a ride on toy I had as a child.  According to my parents I loved my Ollie and would push myself around for hours of play outside.  As I grew Ollie was replaced with a red trike.  This was my first racing bike.  My brother and I would race each other down our steep and slightly curved front walk.  I still remember the idea of "pedal pedal pedal...... HOLD ON!!!"  I think this is where I learned to crash and get back up, back then it was fun and a badge of honor to have a "boo-boo".  After the trike I went on to a bike with training wheels, I think it was pink (my mother was still trying to make a girl out of me). I do remember it had tassels on the handlebars, this meant I was going fast because tassels only blew in the wind at top speeds.  It also had a basket on the front; teaching me the importance refueling on the bike- I could put a drink, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and a stuffed toy all in one basket.  Tools to change a flat were not of importance- that's what dad's were for.  After the tasseled bike came what would be my favorite childhood bike- my purple huffy.  This bike was fast, it could go off road, I could hop dirt hills and sidewalk gutters.  The Huffy was not a "baby" bike. In fact when you put playing cards in the spokes or an aluminum can at the top brake it was an Evil Kneival machine, crossed with a ticket to freedom.  I loved this bike but as I grew it did not, meaning a new bike was in my future. 

Mountain Trek, Years after HS.

For high school graduation my parents bought me a Trek Mountain bike.  This would be my college bike.  I didn't notice on the streets of Charlotte it was slow and tough to push, what I knew was it got me to the grocery store, the homes where I was a nanny, and through the town.  I also realized when taken to the nearby mountains it got me up the hills and back down alive. It also got me across much of the state in a 150 mile bike ride (oh the days before I knew about the need for a road bike).  I still ride my Trek and love spending time with her on trails.  To ride this bike reminds me it does not have to be the newest bike with the most gadgets to be a great bike, great bikes are made in our hearts and in our free spirit those bikes bring to life.
It would be some time before my next bike purchase.  It was not until Patrick and I decided to try out triathlon that I bought my next bike.  It was another Trek, I figured I loved the one I already had, it was a hybrid bike.  I enjoyed this bike, even though it was not a great match for my sizing but it was for my check book at the time of purchase.  As with many triathletes, we started off with a "let's-try-it-and-see-if-we-are-going-to-stick-with-it" bikes.  My bike was nothing special compared to the other ones around, but it was mine and I was learning.  This bike served its purpose in introducing me to the sport and in making me realize how much I enjoyed biking.  Well, most of biking, hills were still not on my top ten list.

The Orange one is Allie.

That's Luci.

I upgraded to my Specialized tri bike, it was a great find, it fit well and, bonus, was a great price.  It was this bike, Luci, that made me LOVE the sport of triathlon.  I enjoyed being out on the bike, down in the areo position, the wind really blowing in my hair (through my helmet).  I would soon also sell my hybrid Trek and purchase a new road bike, another Specialized, Allie. 
Allie and Luci are the bikes I still ride and love today. But I look back on my list of bikes and it all started there in the lawn with Ollie.
Life happens and we grow.  We grow out of our old bikes and into new ones, but it is in those first pushes and pedals that we learn the joy of the sport. Those moments, moments of joy, we should hold on to through long bike rides, bad weather, and right up to the dismount line.