Given my grumping and moaning in at least one other post (and in huge numbers of posts to come), I thought it would be good to write a more positive post about my cycling experience. With that in mind, here goes...
Something which made me feel good on Tuesday's cycle was how other people on bikes can be so friendly and how it can break down that silly barrier we have of not wanting to say 'Hello' to a stranger or even make eye contact with someone.
Whilst passing through a little town I hadn't cycled through on my own before, I asked a cyclist (he was stopped outside a shop and I was cycling past slowly, as I tend to do) if I was going the correct way to get to the road I was looking for. Not that it's of any relevance, I was going the right way. I don't want you think I'm a complete buffoon. Anyway, the young fellow at the shop shouted for me to slow down and joined me for the next ten miles or so of my cycle as he happened to be going the same way. I know that's no big deal in a lot of ways but it's still a very positive kind of occurrence you wouldn't get in many activites in life. For example, you could hardly ask another motorist for directions and then drive alongside him/her chatting because he/she happened to be travelling the same direction.
Later on (when I was exhausted after trying to keep up with someone fourteen years younger than me), I passed a gentleman (I would guess in his sixties) on a bike. When I stopped round the corner to give my jelly-legs a quick break and eat something, this guy also stopped and chatted away to me. I thought it was good to see how different generations of people can let something like cycling be enough to break down that awkward barrier we all tend to put up round ourselves.
I'm not naive, I know some people are just plain ignorant, whether they cycle or not, and will blank you if you wave/acknowledge them. What I try to remember in such situations is I'll never have to see that person again and he/she is probably stuck being a bitter ignoramus for the rest of his/her life. Additionally, there are undoubtedly people who I would rather not talk to (on a bike or off one) and who would rather not talk to me but it's still very pleasant to be able to be positive and friendly with one another instead of deeply suspicious.
Something which made me feel good on Tuesday's cycle was how other people on bikes can be so friendly and how it can break down that silly barrier we have of not wanting to say 'Hello' to a stranger or even make eye contact with someone.
Whilst passing through a little town I hadn't cycled through on my own before, I asked a cyclist (he was stopped outside a shop and I was cycling past slowly, as I tend to do) if I was going the correct way to get to the road I was looking for. Not that it's of any relevance, I was going the right way. I don't want you think I'm a complete buffoon. Anyway, the young fellow at the shop shouted for me to slow down and joined me for the next ten miles or so of my cycle as he happened to be going the same way. I know that's no big deal in a lot of ways but it's still a very positive kind of occurrence you wouldn't get in many activites in life. For example, you could hardly ask another motorist for directions and then drive alongside him/her chatting because he/she happened to be travelling the same direction.
Later on (when I was exhausted after trying to keep up with someone fourteen years younger than me), I passed a gentleman (I would guess in his sixties) on a bike. When I stopped round the corner to give my jelly-legs a quick break and eat something, this guy also stopped and chatted away to me. I thought it was good to see how different generations of people can let something like cycling be enough to break down that awkward barrier we all tend to put up round ourselves.
I'm not naive, I know some people are just plain ignorant, whether they cycle or not, and will blank you if you wave/acknowledge them. What I try to remember in such situations is I'll never have to see that person again and he/she is probably stuck being a bitter ignoramus for the rest of his/her life. Additionally, there are undoubtedly people who I would rather not talk to (on a bike or off one) and who would rather not talk to me but it's still very pleasant to be able to be positive and friendly with one another instead of deeply suspicious.
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