While it's been more than a year since I last posted about my cycling experiences, the post made by @ocd where it announced a brand new community being under the incubation program and also hosting a contest with this purpose, made me dig in my phone gallery to put together one of these posts that, honestly, I felt missing on the feed of my blog.

You can read more about the contest and incubation process HERE.

My first interaction with bikes in general was at a fairly early age, perhaps around 7-8 years old if I'm not wrong. However, I wasn't a stranger to this kind of sports as with just a few years before owning a bike, I had a lot of adventures and injuries (like any other kid) using my roller skates which I miss even these days and always get the mood of buying a new pair once every few months.

While riding a bicycle was more of a hobby, the roller skates quickly turned into a lifestyle using them anytime I was going out of the house and even during the classes at school, always surprising my teachers coming on these in front of the table when being asked to solve an exercise. However, the whole activity ended after a stupid mistake I made when I started riding the roller skates down a street of a few kilometers long that was quite inclined and always a challenge for the cars to keep the break pushed down every few hundred of meters due to the speed that was increasing pretty fast.

However, while the speed can be controlled easily from either a car or a bike, it's not the same thing on roller skates where not all these things come with a break, and if they do, it's not safe to use it on a high speed because you will end up in a twist that will make you follow a different direction that the one wished, most likely being unable to control it anymore. Considering that the whole thing was happening on one of the most popular streets of my hometown with plenty of cars on all the traffic lanes and a few curves here and there, you might already have the image of terror in my head when I realized that this might be my last day alive.
Happy or not, I managed to control my brain and not hit the brake being aware of the risks that I'd trigger once again, so I simply let the speed increase and focused on not stopping in one of the cars or ending up on the opposite traffic lane. The whole panic ended by getting one of the roller skates hit the sidewalk which projected my body in a building, but from where I only walked back home with a stubbed finger and a nail turned upside down. Yep, no broken legs, no broken heads, and no broken stuff in general.

That was pretty much my last experience riding roller skates always having the feeling that it was the single moment when God would forgive my unconsciousness and the risks I've gotten myself into, and that I should find a new sport to enjoy at least as much as I loved that one.

So, after such an adventure at a way too early age, I redirected my passion and love towards bicycles, which I used to create most of my memories while being a kid. It's true that I've never taken that far this passion anymore with tricks to try out and adrenaline to feel going through my veins, but I did have the bicycle present in my life for many years until I went to college and moved to a new city where it was hard to bring my bicycle with me, as well as buy a new one due to the lack of time and money - the situation every student feels in his life, right?

A few more years passed and as soon as I graduated the college and moved yet in another city to start a new life, I encouraged myself that there was no better moment than that one to purchase a bicycle and start writing down a few more memories with this purpose. So with the occasion of having my birthday around the corner, in 2021, I made the decision to purchase a Rockrider MTB ST 100 with 27,5" wheels and V-break which cost me around 200 EUR back then.

It's true that it's not one of the best bicycles, nor a very famous brand, but for the occasional rides I have, it's all I need for now. The ones I'm mostly riding my bike these days with are my boyfriend and my sister, and along with the outdoors and forest paths that we enjoy the most, there are also the evening or night rides which simply feel like a deep breath of fresh air and I absolutely love that feeling.

Along with the bicycle that I already introduced, there are a few more things that became part of my equipment and which are never missing during my rides no matter the length or path I follow:

• Rockrider MTB ST500 Helmet
• Acid MTB Bike Saddle
• Bottle Holder
• Phone Holder
• First Aid Kit

At first, I always imagined my next bike being completely covered in stickers where every single one would be connected in one way or another with one or more of my passions, from hiking to camping, from cooking to gaming, from watching movies to taking pictures, from wolves to cats and so on. But the truth is that I simply fell in love with the neon color of the bike which made me think twice if I should do this step anymore, and that's how 2 years later my bike still looks like new, without any stickers on it.

Unfortunately, as I said at the beginning of this post, it's been more than a year since my last cycling post just because this activity became rarer and rarer due to all kinds of aspects that more or less were connected with my lifestyle, but also due to the last injury I suffered while riding a bike and which I still feel these days, after a few months passed.

Though with the occasion of writing this article and getting myself through so many memories and reviving some of the moods I felt while riding a bike, this might as well cause a change for the better, at least for the 1-2 months left until we will face cold temperatures.

Oh, and don't forget to always clean your bicycle no matter if you are following street or mountain paths! I've learned that the hard way after seeing rust coming up on my older bike or hearing lots of weird noises on the new one for not cleaning it in time. Just like you take care of your car or your own health, do the same to the bicycle. 😇

You can see more of my cycling-related articles written in the past, down below:

1. I made myself a Birthday gift by purchasing a new Mountain Bike!
2. First bike ride in 2022 / 22 km pedaling
3. Picnic in the woods... with a bike!
4. Less online, more offline
5. Small upgrade on bikes and Wednesday ride in the woods
6. Sibiu Cycling Tour 2022
7. Chasing the sun while escaping the ordinary

SEE YOU IN THE NEXT TRIP! 🗾

^{Gabriela Travels is the FOUNDER of "Festival Mania" who started this community from the passion of attending various festivals and with the purpose of encouraging more people to explore festivals all around the world and share their experiences. At the same time, Gabriela is an independent Graphic Design Freelancer since 2019 completing over 600+ orders in this time and collaborating with various businesses and people from all over the globe. Additonally, Gabriela has her own corner on the internet since 2017 where she writes various articles for her blog, the most popular being the travel ones (260+ articles written on this field), but also abording other topics as well, like game reviews, movie and series reviews, photography posts, cooking recipes and more, boosting the total number of articles written to 550+ blog posts. Gabriela is also a gamer since she was 11 years old and gaming remains one of her biggest passions along with traveling, editing, cooking, and doing various sports activities.}

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