🎙️Bike Riding Adventures | Real English Conversations Podcast for Global Professionals

Summary

Real English Conversations Podcast – “Bike Riding Adventures”

Host: Curtis Davies, with Amy Whitney
Episode Release Date: July 20, 2023

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Overview

In this episode, Curtis Davies and Amy Whitney dive into nostalgic, adventurous, and sometimes humorous memories around bike riding in their youth and adulthood. They share personal stories about how cycling shaped their childhoods, the risks they took, how cycling changed as they grew older, and how location and culture impact their biking habits. Their conversation is rich in natural, idiomatic English, making it not just entertaining but an excellent listening resource for global professionals looking to understand and use conversational English in real-life contexts.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Early Bike Memories

• Amy: Rode her first bike (“banana seat bike”) around age four or five; childhood marked by limited riding space due to her grandparents living atop a steep hill.
  • “I spent a lot of time up at my grandparents house… and it was actually one of those bikes with the banana seat, you know like the long bike classic.” — Amy (01:20)
• Curtis: Deeply influenced by his older brothers, he was drawn to the BMX style, focusing on tricks and repairs rather than just riding for transport.
  • “For me it was BMX all the way. My older brothers were BMX bike riders... being the youngest, you look up to your older brothers… So I’m like, I got to get a BMX bike, this is cool.” — Curtis (02:45)

Childhood Freedom and Changing Safety Norms

• Both Amy and Curtis recall a time when children roamed freely, often without parental supervision, cell phones, or helmets.
  • “What I did, the freedom that I had... my parents used to let me ride wherever I want… There were no cell phones. I just said, hey, I'm going for a bike ride... and we were gone.” — Amy (03:53)
• Amy highlights the lack of helmets and the speed at which she’d ride, reflecting on how standards and safety have changed for kids.
  • “…eight year old kid without a helmet flying down the hill, that was me.” — Amy (04:25)

Social Aspects: Tricks vs Transportation

• Curtis: Focused on tricks and building jumps with friends, pushing limits (often without safety gear) for fun.
  • “…it went into who could fly down the hill and get the most air out of this jump.” — Curtis (05:34)
  • “…what felt like 500ft of air... is probably only a foot or so. But when you’re a kid, you’re flying through the air, holding onto your handlebars.” — Curtis (06:10)
• Amy: Saw biking as primary transportation—efficient for meeting friends or visiting places as a child.
  • “When you have a bike, you can get from point A to point B pretty quickly to meet up with your friends…” — Amy (05:01)

Adulthood and Shifting Priorities

• Curtis moved away from biking as a teen after learning BMX tricks at a summer camp, eventually finding music more engaging.
  • “…after doing that, I kind of lost interest and got into music and that took over.” — Curtis (07:21)
• As adults, both returned to biking, now focusing on pleasant trail rides and exercise rather than tricks or speed.

Memorable Adult Biking Adventures

• Crawford Bay (Amy’s Childhood Town):
  • A loop from her parents’ house included stops at the local store, uphill exertion, and unique moments like encountering wildlife.
  • “This one time... a bear came flying across the road into the soccer field, ran around the field twice and went out the other side.” — Amy (09:12)
  • “A bear? Oh, my God.” — Curtis (09:37)
• Whistler:
  • Renowned for mountain biking and beautiful flat trails through scenic parks; Curtis was struck by the natural beauty, while Amy recalls the challenge of hills.
  • “Whistler is beautiful for the scenery... comfortable trails, flat trails through a beautiful park... it was just really spectacular.” — Curtis (11:08)
  • “Whatever goes up must come down... after that hard work of going uphill, you always have that reward of coming back down.” — Amy (11:56)
  • Both marvel at watching professional downhill riders:
    “How fast and crazy they were. It was just incredible. I looked at it and thought, ooh, they’re pretty brave.” — Curtis (12:57)

Urban and Cultural Considerations for Biking Abroad

• Living in Mexico changed their biking habits—cobblestone roads, unfriendly infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians, and greater risk made biking less viable.
  • “The roads aren’t very nice to ride on… We have cobblestone roads… the sidewalks are not designed to smoothly ride across... and pedestrians and cyclists do not have the right of way…” — Amy (14:18)

Reflections & Personal Impact

• Curtis: Misses the freedom, exercise, and exploration of biking, but acknowledges logistical and safety challenges in their current environment.
  • “I do, because it’s a good form of exercise, and it gets you out into the open… I do miss it, yeah, for sure.” — Curtis (13:50)
• Both exhibit fond nostalgia for biking, hinting at possibly renting bikes in the future.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Amy on nostalgia and childhood independence (03:53):
  “My parents used to let me ride wherever I want… There were no cell phones. I just said, hey, I’m going for a bike ride…”

• Curtis’ “epic” jumps as a kid (06:10):
  “What felt like 500ft of air when you’re flying over this jump is probably only a foot or so or less. But when you’re a kid, you’re like flying through the air, holding onto your handlebars.”

• Canadian wildlife encounter (09:12–09:46):
  Amy: “This bear came flying across the road into the soccer field, ran around the field twice and went out the other side.”
  Curtis: “A bear? Oh, my God.”
  Amy: “Like, what a Canadian moment.”

• On Whistler’s bike culture (11:08):
  “Whistler is beautiful for the scenery... trails there, they’re really comfortable trails, flat trails through a beautiful park… it was just really spectacular.” — Curtis

• Watching downhill pros (12:57):
  “It was just incredible. I looked at it and thought, ooh, they’re pretty brave. I don’t think I’d be able to do something like that.” — Curtis

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Early bike memories & childhood freedom: 01:16–05:26
• Tricks and neighborhood adventures: 05:26–06:19
• Transition to adulthood, loss, and rediscovery of biking: 06:52–07:47
• Memorable rides in Crawford Bay & bear encounter: 07:47–10:11
• Whistler biking and observations on the local culture: 11:03–13:23
• Current biking situation abroad: 14:18–14:56

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Summary & Takeaways

The episode artfully weaves personal storytelling, cultural reflections, and natural English expressions. Curtis and Amy model conversational fluency and offer listeners thoughtful insights into how a seemingly ordinary activity like biking shapes experiences, builds connections, and highlights the nuances of living and working in different countries. The warm, nostalgic tone mixed with humor and vivid imagery makes this episode enjoyable for both language learners and anyone who’s ever reminisced about their own two-wheeled adventures.

Transcript

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[Amy Whitney]

this is

[Curtis Davies]

the Real English Conversations podcast where you'll

[Amy Whitney]

find the lessons and advice you need to be able to confidently use your English in the real world.

[Curtis Davies]

Hi everybody, it's Curtis Davies. I'm here with Amy Whitney. We're from realenglishconversations.com We've got a great conversation today about some memories that we've had that everybody can relate to. It's bike riding and we've got some great stories for you. They're really interesting.

[Amy Whitney]

I think that for me I probably started riding my bike when I was really young. I don't remember exactly when I started riding my bike, so I was probably 4 or 5 years old because I think that's when our middle age memories start to happen. But really I've had a bike for as long as I can remember. I spent a lot of time up at my grandparents house when my parents were working. I would be with grandma and grandpa and I remember that they used to have this bike down in the storage area downstairs. They called it the dungeon, but they had the bike that was down there and it was actually one of those bikes with the banana seat, you know like the long bike classic. So I think this was probably my first bike that I ever rode on. But you know what the problem is with where my grandparents live? They live on the top of a hill and a pretty steep hill. So for me I could really only ride in the driveway and up onto the road carefully, obviously looking for cars and come back into the driveway again. But I think that my parents bought me a regular bike, not a mountain bike or anything, but just a regular bike that maybe a six or seven year old kid would have. And that was my first bike that I really remember.

[Curtis Davies]

For me it was bmx. All the Way my older brothers were BMX bike riders and they were always fixing these cool looking bikes in the garage and I was really influenced by that. And of course, being the youngest, you look up to your older brothers and see what they do. So I'm like, I got to get a BMX bike. This is cool. My brothers can fix it for me if there are problems with it. But I really started to get into riding BMX bikes and two of my really good friends across the street in the next block, they started to get BMX bikes too. So this is like a group thing that we started to do as friends together and talking about steep hills. There was one that was right across the street on the other side that was a super steep hill. And we thought, BMX bikes are fast. Let's go see if we can race each other down the hill and go as fast as we could. It's kind of scary because we didn't wear helmets or any of the safety gear. That is kind of mandatory.

[Amy Whitney]

Yeah, yeah, exactly. And I remember when, I don't know really, when I think back, I think, wow, times were really different. What I did, the freedom that I had. When I was 8 years old or 9 years old, my parents used to let me ride wherever I want. I think half the time they had no idea where I was. There were no cell phones. I just said, hey, I'm going for a bike ride with Leslie, for example. And we were gone. We used to go down. There was a hill, I guess in Kelowna. We kind of had like this one area and then there was a hill that went down to the next area and we used to ride down Springfield Hill. And I also think I didn't have a helmet at that time. And I've ridden down that hill as an adult. It's fast. Like you're going down the hill and there's a car beside you and you're almost going the same speed as the car. So, you know, this kid, this eight year old kid without a helmet flying down the hill, that was me. But yeah, I had really a lot of different memories related to riding my bike. And it kind of turned into a way of transportation. I guess when you're young like that, you can't drive, obviously. But when you have a bike, you can get from point A to point B pretty quickly to meet up with your friends to go over to their house, for example. So I used my bike a lot when I was a kid.

[Curtis Davies]

For me, flying down hills and all sorts of things like that, doing tricks on my bike. Was what I was all about instead of more of the transportation thing. And the hill that I rode down with my friends had a part in the middle where we actually constructed a jump, like a little dirt hill in the middle of this small little tree circle. And we were the ones that made it. So I'm sure all the kids in the neighborhood benefited from it, too. Instead of racing down the hill, it went into who could. Who could fly down the hill and get the most air out of this jump?

[Amy Whitney]

Yeah.

[Curtis Davies]

So what felt like 500ft of air when you're flying over this jump is probably only a foot or so or less. But when you're a kid, you're like flying through the air, holding onto your handlebars.

[Amy Whitney]

Yeah, it was a blast. Yeah. It's interesting because, I mean, as long as it's exciting and it's fun and most of the time it's harmless. I'm sure we've all fallen off our bike and hurt ourselves, but most of the time it's okay. We ride our bike, we don't have any problem, and it's just a lot of fun. So what about moving into adulthood and bike riding? Did you continue to ride your bike or did you leave it for a while? How did that go?

[Curtis Davies]

Well, I continued until I was like a teenager around the time, just pre teenager. 12, 13. Well, I guess 13 being a teenager. Yeah, it really got into more of the trick kind of stuff. Not going over jumps, but like doing weird, funny tricks with your bike. And I learned how to do this at a summer camp from a BMX trick team. They were in town for a week or two, and you could go in and watch these guys perform, and you could also learn a bunch of tricks and stuff. But after doing that, I kind of lost interest and got into music and that took over. But obviously when I moved to Kelowna and we got a couple of bikes, that's where the adult bike riding really started up again. So it's just with our mountain bikes.

[Amy Whitney]

Okay. I remember a couple of times where we had some pretty cool memories with our bike. One of them was in Crawford Bay, and one of them was in Whistler. They were both really good. The one in Crawford Bay, this is an area where my parents live, and it's a really, really small town kind of in the middle of nowhere. And we went to this area when I was a kid and actually Curtis and I went on this bike ride. It's a loop where you le my parents place and you go down the hill past the store, usually you stop at the store because there's really nothing else to do in the town, so you have to buy something. And then after that you ride up the hill on the way back and you're exhausted by the time you get back. So my parents were quite smart. They knew that there was nothing to do and there was absolutely no danger in this town. So they would always suggest that I would go for a bike ride with whoever we were on vacation with. For example, my cousin, I have one memory with my cousin Colin. We rode down. We were going to play soccer at the school. There was a field there. We were kicking the ball around for maybe half an hour and then we got bored and we came, of course, rode our bikes down to the school, and then we were going to continue down to the store and then ride back up the hill and. And go back home. And this one time, we were finished playing soccer and we left the soccer field and this bear, like a bear came flying across the road into the soccer field, ran around the field twice and went out the other side.

[Curtis Davies]

A bear? A bear. Oh, my God.

[Amy Whitney]

Like, what a Canadian moment.

[Curtis Davies]

It's a very Canadian moment.

[Amy Whitney]

No, no, to be fair, this. This area, the Crawford Bay, it has a population of about 200 people. It has a lot of trees. It's pretty much like you're in the middle of the forest. So they have a lot of wildlife. But yeah, that was one of the weird bike riding memories that I have.

[Curtis Davies]

I'd be pedaling as fast as I could to get out of there.

[Amy Whitney]

We were kind of shocked. We were like, did that just happen? But I mean, it was okay. We left the field. We weren't really in danger. We were on the other side of a fence, just sitting on a bench, chilling out. And yeah, that happened. But after that, we rode down to the store, which we figured was the opposite direction of where the bear went, and probably got some ice cream or something.

[Curtis Davies]

I'm glad that we didn't see any bears in Whistler.

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[Curtis Davies]

When we were riding around Whistler, Whistler is beautiful for the scenery, and that's why I really appreciated riding on some of the really nice trails. Trails there, they're really comfortable trails, flat trails through a beautiful park. And it was just really spectacular. We went on really good days, really nice Sunny, beautiful days as well. So we had a bike rack on top of our car. We'd leave Kelowna with our two bikes, and we knew that there were some trails that we could ride on there. That first experience is still memorable for me, definitely.

[Amy Whitney]

And I think it's interesting that your memory of those flat trails. You know, Whistler is a mountain, right?

[Curtis Davies]

Well, right in the middle of the town. They were kind of flat.

[Amy Whitney]

No. Curtis forgot about all the uphill challenges that we had. But the region where we're from, it's always had hills and mountains and uphill and downhill. But I think one of the best parts about bike riding is whatever goes up must come down. And after that hard work of going uphill, you always have that reward of coming back down. And one more thing to mention about Whistler, which is kind of interesting. Whistler has a. I mean, they're an outdoor recreation area. They have. In the winter, they have skiing and snowboarding and different training for, like, every type of winter sport you can imagine. And in the summertime, they have a huge community that does downhill bike riding. And I've never really done downhill bike riding. I think that it's pretty dangerous, but, you know. Yeah. It's cool to watch, though. Do you remember seeing the downhill bike riders? Yeah.

[Curtis Davies]

How fast and crazy they were. It was just incredible. I looked at it and thought, ooh, they're pretty brave. I don't think I'd be able to do something like that. But it was impressive to. Especially when they were qualifying for a competition and getting right into the competition itself. It was just amazing to watch and see that right in person.

[Amy Whitney]

Yeah, exactly. Right at the base of, I guess, where the finish line was. And in Whistler, they have a really cool area where you can sit outside and people watch and in this case, watch the downhill bike riders coming down the path. But, yeah, so I don't know. Nowadays, we don't really ride our bike. We actually don't even have bikes anymore. Do you miss riding your bike?

[Curtis Davies]

I do, because it's a good form of exercise, and it gets you out into the open and you're breathing in fresh air and stuff. I do miss it, yeah. For sure. And unfortunately, I think somebody stole my bike in Canada. Unfortunately. But, yeah, maybe we can rent some bikes sometime here or somewhere else in Mexico and go exploring. That's one of my favorite things about bike riding.

[Amy Whitney]

Yeah. I think the biggest challenge here, and one of the reasons why we decided not to bring our bikes with us, is really the roads aren't very nice to ride on. We have cobblestone roads and the sidewalks are not designed to smoothly ride across the the sidewalks like they are in Canada. And also, I mean pedestrians and cyclists do not have the right of way, so it's a little bit more dangerous and I think we would have to have our bikes and go to some area that's less busy and crowded or less crowded in order to enjoy this sort of activity.

That was a great conversation and as usual we used a ton of interesting vocabulary and expression. Of course these conversations are great for improving your listening skills, but if you are like most of our listeners, you have a job where you work in an English speaking environment or you are living abroad and even though you speak enough English to communicate, it can feel difficult to speak with the fluency you want and it can feel frustrating trying to understand fast spoken English, especially with native English speakers. If this is a problem that you're facing, I would love to help you. Every day I work with students just like you to improve their skills and finally speak English easily and with confidence. Each of my lessons is totally personalized to your needs, which will allow you to to feel progress and to get results within the first few lessons. If this sounds like something you need and you'd like to get started, you can visit realenglishconversations.com and check out our courses. Or you can click the link in the Description area to book a trial lesson with me and get started right away.