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Post by everso on Oct 11, 2010 22:47:41 GMT
My eyes flicked over something in the Mail today - or was it yesterday? Can't remember. Anywayyyy - about riding a bicycle and the fact many youngsters today haven't learnt to ride one. Don't know where they got the figures, but still... The thing is, I've never been able to ride a bike. I was never allowed to try because my parents thought I'd come a cropper, although, oddly enough, they let me have skates, which were pretty much uncontrolable really and I took many tumbles. If you don't learn to ride a bike when you're a youngster it's very hard to do it as an adult, so I'm told. I'd be interested to know if there are any other people on the board like me.
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Post by Weyland on Oct 12, 2010 9:12:48 GMT
I'd be interested to know if there are any other people on the board like me. I can answer that with certainty. No.
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Post by Alpha Hooligan on Oct 12, 2010 9:15:18 GMT
I can ride a bike, I'll give you a seater if you want. I can't ice skate though...went with the school many years ago...I could go dead fast but wasn't very good at turning....so it was like "zoom....SMASH!" into the barriers. Rinse and repeat...I ended up very cold, wet and bruised. AH
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Post by everso on Oct 12, 2010 10:21:02 GMT
As a kid I was always on my roller skates. When our kids were small we occasionally used to take them ice skating - we have an ice rink in Chelmsford - and I enjoyed that too, but felt more secure on roller skates.
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Post by Weyland on Oct 12, 2010 16:45:42 GMT
As a kid I was always on my roller skates. When our kids were small we occasionally used to take them ice skating - we have an ice rink in Chelmsford - and I enjoyed that too, but felt more secure on roller skates. I LOVE ice-skating. I've had hockey boots since I was about 12. Used to go to Whitley Bay rink every week. The ones I've got now are the best kind -- Swedish -- bought them in Gothenburg. Living in Holland, I HAD to try speed skates, of course, but the blades are too long for me. I think that's the most graceful sport this planet has, especially the long-distance races. When it's cold enough for long enough -- rare these days -- they have an Eleven Towns Race in Friesland (a province of the Netherlands, like Noord & Zuid Holland) along canals. That is spectacular. There's a Belgian camera team on the ice on a motorcycle, plus helicopters. You can imagine. Brilliant. You haven't lived until you've seen the Elfstedentocht.
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Post by everso on Oct 12, 2010 18:10:16 GMT
I don't think I'd be brave enough to skate now that I've turned 60. I'd be worried I might break something (like a bootlace).
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Post by Weyland on Oct 12, 2010 18:17:41 GMT
I don't think I'd be brave enough to skate now that I've turned 60. I'd be worried I might break something (like a bootlace). It can be a bit challenging, especially on rough natural ice, but I like it too much to stop. In that it's not a unique sport.
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Post by housesparrow on Oct 13, 2010 16:21:55 GMT
Oddly enough, I was encouraged to cycle, but never had roller skates. Of course I used to borrow my friends' skates...never had a good sense of balance, though.
But I didn't cycle much throughout my childhood, preferring to walk. I still do, and by the time I've got the bike out of the shed, through the side gate, pumped up the tyres, put on my helmet and sorted out everything I need in the panniers, I could be half way on foot to wherever it was I was going!
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Post by Weyland on Oct 13, 2010 17:12:28 GMT
But I didn't cycle much throughout my childhood, preferring to walk. I still do, and by the time I've got the bike out of the shed, through the side gate, pumped up the tyres, put on my helmet and sorted out everything I need in the panniers, I could be half way on foot to wherever it was I was going! So where you were going would have to be a couple of hundred metres away at most. (You'd only need to pump up the tyres every time if you used the bike only once a month or so. Assuming it's not what my son calls a Tesco bike. Or Lidl, or . . . you get the gist. Halfords is not a lot better. In the UK, at least.)
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Post by everso on Oct 13, 2010 17:37:52 GMT
I wish I could ride a bike, really. Although I think today's roads, in the main, are too dangerous for bicycles. I don't object to cyclists riding on the pavement so long as they're careful.
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Post by housesparrow on Oct 13, 2010 19:44:48 GMT
But I didn't cycle much throughout my childhood, preferring to walk. I still do, and by the time I've got the bike out of the shed, through the side gate, pumped up the tyres, put on my helmet and sorted out everything I need in the panniers, I could be half way on foot to wherever it was I was going! So where you were going would have to be a couple of hundred metres away at most. (You'd only need to pump up the tyres every time if you used the bike only once a month or so. Assuming it's not what my son calls a Tesco bike. Or Lidl, or . . . you get the gist. Halfords is not a lot better. In the UK, at least.)My bike was once a good one, but needs attention. I haven't used it much in recent years. The town centre is just over a mile away, and even without pumping the tyres it is probably still quicker to walk, allowing for the time it takes to find somewhere suitable to leave the bike, lock it and take everything out of the panniers. It takes me 20 minutes on foot, probably five minutes on the bike plus all the fiddling about mentioned above, all to be repeated if I stop off en route.
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Post by Weyland on Oct 13, 2010 21:29:15 GMT
My bike was once a good one, but needs attention. I haven't used it much in recent years. The town centre is just over a mile away, and even without pumping the tyres it is probably still quicker to walk, allowing for the time it takes to find somewhere suitable to leave the bike, lock it and take everything out of the panniers. It takes me 20 minutes on foot, probably five minutes on the bike plus all the fiddling about mentioned above, all to be repeated if I stop off en route. Understood. Your mileage may vary. I wouldn't dare cycle in this country, and I live out in the Welsh sticks. I'm accustomed to the considerably more civilised traffic habits on the Continent. In fact I took my bike back to Holland the other week, and that's where it'll stay. Cyclists on the pavement? I'd render them extraordinarily to the US for some torture, and then throw them into the Severn strapped to their bikes.
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Post by everso on Oct 13, 2010 22:34:36 GMT
Cyclists on the pavement? I'd render them extraordinarily to the US for some torture, and then throw them into the Severn strapped to their bikes. Oh no! I don't mind them, so long as they don't think they have more right than me to be there. In fact in some areas round here the pavements are divided so that cyclists and pedestrians share the path, each to his own lane. I think it's a good idea. Chelmsford's roads are far too busy and dangerous. My daughter and son in law both cycle to work (s.i.l. then catches the train to London) and I worry about them both on the road.
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Post by Weyland on Oct 14, 2010 8:27:49 GMT
In fact in some areas round here the pavements are divided so that cyclists and pedestrians share the path, each to his own lane. I think it's a good idea. Yes, indeed, but if they ride on a pedestrian pavement, into the river they must go. Or the sea -- I'm not inflexible.
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Post by everso on Oct 14, 2010 10:17:32 GMT
Weyland: harsh but fair.
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Post by jean on Oct 14, 2010 13:35:14 GMT
If you don't learn to ride a bike when you're a youngster it's very hard to do it as an adult, so I'm told. I'd be interested to know if there are any other people on the board like me. That's absolutely true - it's like swimming they say (but I learned to swim when I was very young and hardly noticed). I didn't learn as a child, regretted it for years, made serious attempts in my 30s and finally cracked it when I went to live in Italy at the age of 47. The trick is to start on a bike with small wheels and put the saddle right down so you can get both feet on the ground at the same time, because it's balancing while starting off that's so difficult. You will fall off lots of times and be covered in bruises for weeks, but it is possible.
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Post by Weyland on Oct 14, 2010 13:57:21 GMT
The trick is to start on a bike with small wheels and put the saddle right down so you can get both feet on the ground at the same time, because it's balancing while starting off that's so difficult. You will fall off lots of times and be covered in bruises for weeks, but it is possible. I didn't fall off much even at first, but that's probably because I was only about eight at the time. Still can't swim very well, but can pedal a bike all day. In Holland. The first time you realise you're actually cycling is a bit like the first time a page in a book suddenly gels and you realise you can read. I remember both events. Heavenly. [Did lose my nerve a bit after a nasty accident when I nearly fell into a canal, concussed and unconscious, but I think that's over. A nurse happened to be cycling past at the time, and she had a mobile -- when mobiles were still rare. Perhaps there is a God after all. Perhaps she was my Guardian Angel. (Don't let this put you off, Ev.)]
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Post by everso on Oct 14, 2010 14:45:39 GMT
No it won't put me off. I don't really believe in anything, but I admit there are happenings in life that do seem strange. I remember the first time I learned to swim. I was about 13 and it was the most wonderful thing. Most of my friends could swim and I felt left out so decided to join a swimming club that my school started during lunch-times (I was lucky enough to attend a secondary school that was brand new and had a wonderful swimming pool and sports facilities**). The mum of one of the pupils had volunteered to teach non-swimmers and in ONE lunch hour I learned to swim. She got into the pool with us and gave us confidence (something the stupid tart of a p.e. teacher hadn't done - preferring to stand on the side of the pool and force non-swimmers to jump in the water. ) It was a lesson to me that you teach that kind of thing far better with kindness and understanding than a loud voice and a whistle. ** Interestingly, the school, which was built in the late 50s/early 60s - finished in 1962 - is now demolished and instead a housing estate stands in its place. Tells you something about jerry built crap from the sixties.
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