[ Le Tour ]
There's just something so wonderfull
about riding a pushbike. You get some (much needed) exercise and, at the
same time, you get a fairly quickly changing view of the world which means
that you don't become bored (especially on busy city streets where there
is an almost constant possibility of death by car driver stupidity).
This Saturday I picked up my
new bike after it's first service (wow - just like a car) in the 'Gong
itself and rode it back to my lovely northern suburb of Thirroul, about
15Kms away. Luckily there's a bike track which closely follows the coast
and has some absolutely gorgeous vistas : nope, not gonna zone out on this
sorta suburban trip, that's for sure. This ride also takes you through
the full strata of the Illawarra's social levels : past lovely, architect
designed modern homes; ostentatious, fake-federation, 6 bedroom psuedo-mansions;
small, non-working farms; tidy, and the not so tidy, suburban blocks; rows
of old miners cottages and desperate looking dept of housing areas.And
all of these are right on the beaches!! But, heavens, the views across
the coast line streaming north to the Royal National Park can take your
breath away - which can be a bit difficult when you're merrily peddling
away.
This is all vastly different
from the last time that I rode a bike every couple of days - from inner-western
Stanmore and the heavily trafficked freeways above Darling Harbour, through
the clogged streets of Sydney, across the magnificent harbour bridge (always
wonderfull) and onto the old Miller Street, North Sydney offices of McNair
Anderson. I have no idea why I decided to commute via peddle power and,
as it caused my knees to become areas of vast pain instead of things that
bend and help you walk, it was carried on for far too long [and, in case
you're wondering, yes, they do still hurt but I've learnt the trick of
wearing bandages around them whilst riding to lessen the pain considerably].
My most cherished memory of
this part of my life was the first day that I rode home. I changed into
my riding gear (helmet, gloves, lycra, et al) and went to pick up my bike
when everyone in the BrandScan office (initiated by that little hellion
Debbie Kerslake!!) made me parade around a bit in front of them all whilst
they hooted and hollered and then gave me a big ya-hoo from the windows
as I set off down the road. Funny bastards... At least I didn't fall over...
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