It Is About The Bike.

It must be fifty years since I last rode a bicycle but this morning I did ride a ten-speed Apollo around the flat straight streets of my city. I felt wobbly to begin with and overbalanced with a minor fall, but soon regained confidence. I looked up at a speed indicator sign early on to see my speed was 'Slow'; some streets later I pedalled in high gear; my speed registered '40 kph', which was respectable enough for a novice. I rode on safe streets with cycle lanes: I rode on streets without cycle lanes. I rode like a competitor in the Tour de France: I rode slowly up a steep hill and I thought of the arduous climbs in the Pyrenees and Hautacam. I thought of Lance Armstrong winning in the mountains. I thought of Greg Lemond's explosive speed on the flat. Back home, I thought of buying my neighbour's ten-speed. -27 October,2018.