I struggle with staying indoors or doing nothing when the sun starts to shine. With the bad weather we have had despite it being April, I am getting serious cabin fever.
So on Sunday morning with my swimming partner out of action due to illness, instead of going to the pool alone, I popped to my mum and dads for a large mug of green tea….. This was my first solo bike ride, a round trip of just under 11 miles!
I struggled to hold the bike up at first as my whole body was shaking with a mix of fear and excitement.
Even writing this I feel pathetic. I am a 32 year old woman, who has been riding a bike since I was about 4…. This was a huge step for me though. And one that deep down I know is not pathetic.
I know the route to mum and dads really well, some would say I could do it with my eyes closed….. And in the dark, that would be almost the same thing. It is almost all cycle path, no problem at all.
Until you factor in joggers, other cyclists and the odd low flying buzzard!
As part of my condition I lost my ability to judge speed and depth, so when seeing another cyclist, I just stop. sounds daft, but then I can’t possibly ride into them that way. This does leave me often standing still for a while, but its the safest way I can think of.
I’m not sure what my consultants would say if they knew that I did this, I am not legally allowed to drive a car, but I have never been asked to take a test to ride a push bike. If I didn’t feel safe….. I wouldn’t do it, and like I said in a previous post, I do know my area very well and will only ride within cycle lanes, cycle paths and on the odd footpath in between.
In doing this and trying to keep my independence, I have also been called a fraud, but then, in reading a label in the supermarket or looking at my own watch I have also been called a fraud.
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