Helmet on, eyes bright, smile wide.
Anna Keeler just rode a bicycle for the first time 鈥� and she鈥檚 92.聽
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 fall, and I balanced it perfectly,鈥� Keeler said proudly at her residential care home, Hilltop House, Friday afternoon. She added she felt, 鈥減retty wonderful鈥� riding the three-wheeled bike.聽
鈥淭he whole time all I could think of was when young kids learn to drive a bike, the parents let go after a while and [the kids] don鈥檛 know that they are driving their bike, finally.鈥澛�
Riding the bicycle 鈥� which was actually a tricycle 鈥� was a dream come true for Keeler.
鈥淢y husband always said, 鈥榊ou could drive a three-wheeled bike,鈥欌�� Keeler said.聽
Keeler鈥檚 husband of 72 years, Don, died in June, so getting Keeler out on a bike was a way to lift her spirits and show her there were still new things she could do, explained Keeler鈥檚 daughter-in-law, Anne Keeler, who works at Hilltop House.聽
The adventure was a community affair.
It all started when Laura Naro, a rehabilitation assistant at Hilltop,聽asked Keeler for her 鈥渂ucket list鈥� and then put a request out on social media to try to find a bike. Several people came forward with offers.聽
Anne picked up the three-wheeled, apple-red loaner trike last Sunday, and with many of Anna鈥檚 family there to watch, she was helped onto the bike, and then pedalled away down the street.
Anna and her husband came to B.C. from Nova Scotia in 1988.聽
Bicycles played a huge part in his life early in their marriage, she said, as they could not afford a car after the war, so Don commuted to work on a bike.
鈥淲e lived鈥� on a hill, and I could look right across the lake and see him coming along on his bike鈥� I always had the meal on time because I could see him coming along the road.鈥�
But Anna had wanted to ride a bicycle too and she did try, both as a child and as an adult, but she just could not balance, she said.聽
She said she was afraid of bikes because at age nine, she had been hit by a rider while walking to school and spent six months in bed recovering from a broken leg.
Anna said she thought not learning to ride might have something to do with the fact she grew up with a sister and no brothers.
鈥淚 always wanted a brother, and I always wanted to drive a bike,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 had no brother to balance it for me.鈥澛�
She made sure her children, five boys and one girl, all learned to ride bikes.
鈥淢y dad would tease me about that,鈥� Anna said, 鈥淎nd he said 鈥楴ow did you learn to ride the bike?鈥欌��
But she didn鈥檛, until last Sunday.
鈥淚 would like people to know that it can be done, and they can get a three-wheeled bike now,鈥� she said.聽
