farmdoc's blog post number 36

I remember the first moment I rode a bicycle. The bike, street, weather, onlookers. I recall the lot. I was exultant. It changed my life forever. In 1993 Meg – the second of Vivienne and farmdoc’s four beautiful daughters – did a university project called Objects. She asked people to write a paragraph about an object they chose, then she photographed each person with their object. I wrote: Freedom. Fitness. Environmental responsibility. Simplicity. Congruity of form and function. Hassle free parking.. Traffic jam irrelevance. Travel savings. These are the main reasons I ride a bicycle – for about 100 km per week. And of my six bicycles the Cannondale in the photograph is my favourite – dare I offend the other five – because of the beautiful aluminium frame, its Shimano 600 parts, and the wonderful memories it evokes of several long touring trips. I am a bicycle person and this is my bicycle. Nowadays, I’m not proud to say, I ride less; sometimes not for weeks. But the good news is that Indigo – the oldest of Vivienne and farmdoc’s three beautiful granddaughters – has the bug. She is hooked on riding her bike. Is it genetic? Her mum Kate rode a whole Great Victorian Bike Ride without changing gears once. Anyway Indigo is a natural. And I am exultant. What goes around comes around. Just like a bicycle wheel.