Rode hard and put away wet

[darkemeralds]

Hah! I just checked two more things off my Becoming a Cyclist list:

• I rode in the dark with my headlight and taillight on
• I rode in the rain

And I rode in the dark in the rain on a busy street.

I am kind of made of win tonight.

ETA: And I didn't feel timid. Perhaps that's silly. But I'm discovering that, as in many another activity involving moving through the world, in city cycling, hesitancy is sometimes more dangerous than bold action.

Comments

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

It's remarkable that you learned at that age--I can imagine that it was pretty scary--lot farther to fall! And more dignity to lose, too.

When I got on a bike for the first time in 39 years last week, and tried to ride it around the track at the bike store, I was wobbly and unconfident, and some of that feeling came right back to me, of learning to ride a bike. I don't even consciously remember it, I was so little, but the muscle memory and the emotion were still there, sort of an odd combination of fear, intrepidity, pride and embarrassment.

In the week since then, I've gone much more to "Oh shit, another incline!" but bit by bit it's coming to me.

[lamentables.livejournal.com]

Very scary - you have so much more awareness of the risks. Even though I could manage to stay upright and get to the next village and back, I couldn't really deal with feeling perpetually on the brink of losing control.

I learned so that I could cycle to the next village once a week to see my therapist. Then I gave up and walked there for few years. These days I take the car. I love walking it, but the 5-mile round trip takes just a bit too much time out of a working day.