text: Sarah loved her friends and all the fun she had with them. Their latest fun activity was to race their bicycles as fast as they could down to the ice-cream truck in the park. Sadly Sarah couldn’t participate. She still used training wheels, you see. Her friends could go so much faster and didn’t have to stick to the paths so when Sarah caught up they had already got their ice-creams and she was always left behind trying to get one. Soon enough Sarah got fed up and begged her parents to teach her to ride but they were always too busy. She felt so lonely every time her friends rode off on their bicycles. She wanted to do that as well. Suddenly, Sarah had an idea. She grabbed her bike and dragged it into their garage and snuck into her father’s toolbox. She didn’t know what she was looking for and the pile of tools was like trying to find a needle in a haystack, but she was determined. She spent her afternoon picking up tools and trying them on the bolts of her bike. Eventually, after several hours she found what she needed and got to work removing the training wheels. The bolts were on so tight she would’ve thought they were tightened by the Hulk himself. But after much pushing and pulling they came loose and a sigh of relief escaped Sarah’s mouth. The extra wheels were discarded on the floor as if they were broken toys. Sarah ran back into her house and yelled to her mother, who was busy typing on the computer, that she was going out with her friends. Her mother only grunted back a sound of acceptance and didn’t even turn to look at her daughter. Sarah grinned a mischievous grin and ran back to the garage, picked up her newly renovated bike and pushed it out onto the street. After a tiring walk to the dilapidated car park next to the park she paused. Her nerves were wrought but her determination prevailed as she pushed through it and got on her bike. She almost immediately fell over and bruised her arm. This was going to be much harder than she thought. Try after try, fall after fall, bruise after bruise, she almost gave up but eventually she managed to cycle a few metres. It wasn’t much but it was a step in the right direction for Sarah. So she hopped on her bicycle and tried again. This time she went a few more metres. The next go a few more. Until she was cycling anti-clockwise around the car park. This was a massive achievement for her and she was so proud of herself, but it wasn’t the end to her struggles. Next she had to tackle right hand turns. “This will be a cakewalk,” Sarah said to herself. However this was no ride in the park. As soon as she attempted to turn right she fell off and grazed her knee. She sat up as blood trickled from the wound, she wanted to cry but she knew there was no one there to comfort her and she didn’t want to be stopped so soon. Sarah stood up, picked up her bicycle, and jumped back on once again. A little bit of blood wasn’t going to stop her. Sarah peddled and peddled, trying a right turn again and again, her knee was stinging but her stubbornness to finish and motivation to learn kept her going. Soon enough, after many wobbles and falls, she finally got it. She was overjoyed! She could finally ride her bike with her friends. She felt like she had climbed Mount Everest. Nothing in the world could bring her down. She couldn’t wait to show her friends when they went to the park on Saturday. As the week came and went, it was agonisingly long for Sarah. She was so excited and almost told her friends multiple times, but she wanted to surprise them so much she managed to keep it a secret. Soon enough it was Saturday. She woke up early in the morning and got ready. They were supposed to meet at ten but she got there at nine so she could make sure she hadn’t lost her groove. After an hour of tentative waiting and looking at her watch as if it was going to jump off her wrist and run away, her friends arrived. They all rode up on their bikes and Sarah was there to meet them. It was quite a surprise for them as a week before there were pink little training wheels on Sarah’s bike and now there were none. She excitedly challenged them to race down to the ice-cream truck, and though surprised, agreed. As they raced down together as a group Sarah no longer felt alone and was happy to be able to race and play with her friends again.