When I ride my bicycle, I feel I am getting away with something — like I’m pilfering.
This is why.
Cycling is faster than walking and takes considerably less calories — what a steal!
I love riding my bike. I put on my helmet, swing my leg over the seat, and instantly I feel like an athlete. I don’t look like one as I wobble down the driveway and push my bike up hills. But looks aren’t everything.
When I was a child, my bicycle was my horse. I tied a scarf to both ends of my handle bars and off “Beauty” and I went. I’m actually afraid of horses, but my Beauty was very docile.
When I was a teenager, my bicycle was my motorcycle. I put my tape recorder into the front basket (I was and still am a geek) and rode around with it quietly playing “Born to be Wild.”
When I was in my early 20s — even when I was pregnant with my firstborn — my bicycle was my primary mode of transit and hauling. We couldn’t afford a car and anyways, I loved feeling fit and seeing how many bags of groceries I could hang off my handlebars.
When my first two children were little, the Gendron carriage became my mode of transportation. Even still, there was a feeling of getting away with something — I could pack so many groceries in the box under the carriage, and I could walk so much faster with the kids inside the pram rather than out of.
By the time I was expectant with our third child, we had a car. I knew if I was ever to go anywhere or do anything with three children, I would need to learn to drive — and I did. Our third and fourth children never experienced the elements like the first two.
Now that I am un-childed, I don’t need to carry as much stuff around and I don’t have to transport people, so in theory I should be enjoying my bicycle a lot more.
But in practice, I’m scared. There is no place for bicycles in Sudbury — not on the roads where the cars don’t see you and/or hate you. Not on the sidewalks where the one or two walkers stare daggers at you, even as you dismount or ride on the curb.
But things will change in two years, assuming my health and the Welland Canal hold. We are moving to St. Catharines and there is a Welland Canal Parkway that is bicycle friendly and extends 42 km. And St. Kitts — being south of Suds — gets less snow and more warmth, so the riding season is extended.
There is, however, is a menace skulking the pathways ... the Canada goose!
Actually, there are a good thousand of them over the summer, and 200 are permanent residents. They’ve actually knocked folks off their bicycles and chased pedestrians.
But I’ve got a plan. Apparently these geese don’t like air-horns or bright shiny long ribbons.
And, as a bonus, cars and pedestrians will be able to see and hear the Senile Cyclist coming and going.
Jan Carrie Steven has decided to write a story a day (well, almost every day), and these stories are posted at sunshineandapurpledress.weebly.com.
