The two-wheeled bike

  Do you remember learning to ride a two-wheeled bike? Most of the kids learn to ride it around 5,or 6 years old. However, I was very late at starting. I didn't even think of trying until I was 10(korean age). I was in the third grade then, and my mom told me that it was time to learn how to ride a bike(on 2 wheels,not 4), and me, feeling thoroughly excited,followed her.
  We had a 'bikeway'(also called 'bike path') on the side of the stream near us,but mom said I couldn't go there yet. We rented a bike for 2000 won($2) for an hour. I couldn't wait to try, but I did feel a bit nervous.
   Practicing was pretty hard, harder than I thought. On the first day(Aug 4 2009) I was shouting for my mom to grab my backside, and my mom pushed the bike while she ran from the back. The instant she let go, I fell. All the other little kids stared at me,since I was probably the oldest one there, but I didn't care. I kept practicing,even though my knee hurt from the scrape.
  After about two months or 8 practice sessions, I was finally able to go on the road. It was October 2009. I felt tremendously delighted. 7 months later, I got my own two wheeled bike, and we no longer had the '1 hour' limit. If someone told me when I first got on the road I would be doing 60 km in 18 months, I wouldn't have believed it. But it became true. In fact, less than a year later I was doing 50.
  I learned two lessons here. The first lesson is that determination can make anything possible. The second lesson is that once you get the hang of something, you can get good at it as long as you enjoy it, and faster than you think. In August 2009 I was bumping off the walls. In August 2010 I set a record of 56.25 km(in a single day) that wasn't broken until next year.