learning to ride a bike

Another of the 52 stories questions: What is something you taught yourself how to do, without much help from anyone else?

I taught myself how to ride a bike.  My Mom tried.  My two younger brothers and I all learned at the same time.  They hopped on the bike, Mom gave them a big push a couple of times and they had it!  I was too afraid to let her just give me a push and I wouldn't let her.  So I sat on the bike and just pushed myself around with my feet for quite a while.  Basically treating the bike as a strider, and eventually I learned how to balance and feel like I could keep my feet up and then finally start pedaling.  I'm not sure how long that all took.  I had a rocky start though, and frustrated my brothers quite a bit. 

The three of us saved our money and finally were able to pay for half of one used bike for the three of us to share.  Mom and Dad paid the other half.  So we had to take turns riding the bike.  And on my first turn, I rode right into the back of our little pickup and popped the front tire.  Then we had to wait for Dad to fix it.  My brothers really were not happy with me.  But they have definitely turned out to be amazing bikers, so I don't think I hindered them all that much!