Riding a Bicycle
I’ve always loved riding bikes and like many young folk, we were cyclists very early in our life. I remember as a 3 to 4-year-old riding a tricycle. It was a fairly primitive toy, but I loved it. On that bicycle, I absconded from my kindergarten, at the home of Mrs Sugars. When my mother went to pick me up, I was gone, but she later found me, taking a different route back to our home.
I was probably 10 years of age before I had my next bike, and I rode it around the dirt roads surrounding our home, and later used it to get to high school every day.
In retrospect, I should have bought one when I was nursing in Mt Gambier, as I would have had transport to explore further than I did on foot.
Bikes in China
When I went to China in 2008, I bought a bicycle. Just an ordinary one that needed pedal power to propel it, but I did venture quite a distance from the university to explore the city and the suburbs around. But when I returned in 2010, I bought an electric bike.
I can remember going to the shop close to the city to explore electric bikes, with no plan to buy one that day, but that is what I did. It was brand new, and I hadn’t planned my trip back to the university campus. I remember riding this new machine through peak hour traffic, with my heart pumping faster than usual, as I made my way safely back to the campus.
Where will I go?
While I avoided the city (too many people and too much traffic) I had many adventures on my days off. With my camera in a backpack, I venture way out from the campus, through villages, and acres of rice fields. I loved it, but I was only there for one semester and one of the other students bought it from me. Sadly, it was stolen from the campus a short time later.
Ebikes – Photo from Unsplash.com
Another Bike
A few years later, after my return to Australia, I bought another ebike, this time from Blind Feddy’s Bike Shop. It is a fold up bike, that fits into the boot of my car. I rode at Uluru, (though u-turned when I came across a group of dingoes), and I rode it around Dubbo Zoo and many other places on my tour of Australia in 2012/13. Always I wear a helmet. I hate wearing it as it is not good for my hair, but it is a safety issue. I’d rather be safe.
Until a couple of years ago I rode it often, but it has been somewhat ignored in the last couple of years. Will I get it going again? Maybe.
The Cyclists without a Helmet
Serious cyclists do not ride without their helmets safely on, and protecting their heads. But, I have always been annoyed and angry about the many cyclists (mostly males) riding wildly around the rounds without a helmet. It is clearly dangerous.
How one Cyclist Risked his Life and Mine.
Last week, around 4.15 pm, as I was driving home from the city, on the left lane on Wynnum Road, at Balmoral, a cyclist riding on the footpath to the left of me, heading towards me, clipped some rubbish (awaiting council rubbish removal), lost control of his bike, hit my car, and ended up in a bloody mess on the road with his bike. I stopped immediately and called 000, for police and ambulance. An ambulance passed a short time later, stopped and assisted until the other ambulance arrived.
The young man, not wearing a helmet, was very lucky. His face was damaged, and he had a few cuts, and I suspect he would survive. It was a shock to me and I still think of it and get upset.
What makes me angry is that if he had been wearing a helmet, there would have been less damage to him. But anyway, it is illegal to do what he did. Cyclists must wear one.
Please, please, cyclists, where it is law, please wear a helmet and obey all the other rules that apply to cyclists. For your safety and mine.
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About Di Hill
My business card says "Writer, Traveller, Camera Addict, Bamboo Fan, Workshop Presenter." This website will focus on my writing - and the workshops I present. Workshops on Blogging, Marketing for Writers, and Life Story Writing.
