Back on the Bike

When I moved here, my announcement that I couldn't ride a bike** was met with utter amazement or howls of laughter. Or as one of my companions on the weekend said, "Can you take off your sunglasses? I want to see the shame cross your eyes." Needless to say, quite a few people have told me that to really enjoy Europe (and depending on who they are, life in general), I have to learn how to ride a bike.


So it turns out someone abandoned a bike on the rear balcony of my building for at least the last year and a half and it was decided as a group (excluding myself) that this bike would now be *mine*. Someone pointed out that the bike had a lock on it and a few days later, I saw one of the Italians (who shall remain nameless) going at it with a hacksaw. With this bike newly *liberated* I have been slowly (re-)learning how to ride with help from people at work and the closed road circuit. Due to the inclement weather, I have so far only managed three separate sessions but apparently it's been quite entertaining to watch me learn how to keep my balance, turn, u-turn, lift my hands from the handlebars, brake, and do head-checks. Various people have said I look: 

• terrified
• as if I'm doing strange acrobatics (during the hand-lifting exercise)
• highly entertaining
• like a giant child (my personal favourite)

But they've all agreed that I'm better than they thought I would be (tumbles were expected!) and now there's a vague plan to make me cycle with others from work to a palace that's not too far away so that I can get used to cycling on a path with people around and put the stuff I've been learning into practice. Hopefully it will be done successfully and I can tick this one off my list of tasks to complete while living here!


**technically this is untrue - I did teach myself when I was 25. But I fell off and never really climbed back on.