Meeting the 92-year-old bike girl

These days, I like to bike down to the riverside of the Danube, find a nice and quiet spot next to the water and sit down with a book to read for an hour or two, as long as I feel like it. Just me and a book and nothing to disturb our quality time together.
Today, as I was sitting there, an old woman came past. She was slowly strolling along the riverside with her rollator, on her face the sincerest, happiest smile that you can imagine. I thought "WOW! She is really enjoying just walking and feeling the sunshine on her skin. This is awesome." And a part of her smile passed onto me.

When I was done reading and started packing my stuff, the old woman came back. She stopped next to me and we started chatting about the flood, about getting old, and about sports.
As we are standing there, she tells me that she is 92 years old and pretty much has been doing sports all her life, and always enjoyed it. She tells me she used to bike a lot, until her 80s - then her children, two sons, took the bike away because they deemed it too dangerous. She tells me how great that bike was, taking her place she would never have been able to go otherwise.
And before my eyes, the 92-year-old woman transforms into a lively bike girl with more than 70 years of bike experience under her skin.
And now, she tells me, her power is slowly decreasing, at 90+. She tried swimming, but the last time it didn't work that well anymore. She thinks it's because she has not enough power left in her arms.
But still, she tells me, even if swimming doesn't work, she walks down the Danube every day. Up and down between the two bridges that cross the river, watching what the flood has destroyed and enjoying the sun. She wears a shirt with short sleeves. Her shoulders and arms are bare. "It doesn't look that nice anymore", she tells me and points at her upper arms. "But I don't care anymore about that." She smiles.

We say goodbye. I remember her smile, this wonderful, radiant smile as she passed me in the sunlight.

Tonight, for summer solstice, I raise my glass to you, 92-year-old bike girl, and wish you many more strolls and smiles along the Danube river.

Who loves cyclists?

There are odd, cyclist-hating people running around these days.

Yesterday, I was cycling home from work, taking a different route to stop at a small organic market. Part of that route involved a one-way-road going ... not my way. So I used the walkway for about 20m. No living human being was using the walkway. There was just one bored waitress standing next to it, near the tables of the cafe she's apparently working in. Doing nothing. Just as I approached her, she started to move ... sloooowly, across the walkway, got a menu, and moved back ... sloooowly ... which was just the moment I had reached her. At which point she stopped, looked at me - I looked back, smiled - and she told me to get off the bike, because I'm not allowed to drive my bike on the walkway.
I continued driving without having said anything. I had no heart for a discussion, since she didn't seem like a person with whom discussing makes much sense.

Of course, she's right. But granted that there was no one using the street, I wasn't running over or endangering anybody, and granted that I share the bike lanes with:
- cars
- lorries
- pedestrians
- joggers
- roller skaters
- skateboarders and
- wheelchair users
I'm inclined to see certain roads as shared space and not privately owned by certain types of roadusers.
And, let's be honest, this whole thinking of "This is my stuff and this is your stuff and don't touch my stuff or I'll be angry" has made this world a somewhat annoying place to live in already.

But that was yesterday. Today is a different story.

A story I still don't understand...
I was cycling to work. Fully legally on a small road that is used by pedestrians, dog owners (yes, they are their own category), cyclists and - very occasionally and in a restricted way - cars. So I was cycling, and at some point I noticed a man somewhat ahead of me. First he was walking, then he stopped. I came closer. He turned around. Still I came closer. Then he lifted his fist in a quite menacing way, as if he wanted to punch me or throw a stone at me.
"Hm", I thought, giving him the benefit of the doubt. "I'll just try and see if I get hit by a stone."
I didn't get hit, neither by a stone nor by a fist. But as I drove past him, he yelled "Drive nicely!!!"
Nope, I wasn't going particularly fast. I'm not a speed biker, I'm a pleasure biker. A pleasure biker who has no clue what's up with people these days...

My lane and your lane

:-)

Hellfire reloaded

And here they came. I knew there was something wrong with not sweating like hell at 30 degrees on a bike. Today, the last 500 metres, I was dripping. The last 500 metres is basically 5 minutes up a hill. The reason why is because today there was a carrotmob in Linz in 7 shops. So I bought two pairs of linen trousers for my vacation in Japan (30 degrees will be heaven over there), some foodstuff and borrowed, ahem, 10 books from the library. Thus I had some additional weight on me. Nevertheless, I was full of endorphines from the nice carrotmob-shops (and the books!). They all offered free carrot cake :D

There's nothing better...

...than getting a radiant smile from a fellow cyclist on the way home from work.

Bike quotes

'When I go biking I am mentally far, far away from civilisation. The world is breaking someone else's heart.' Diane Ackerman 'When the spirits are low. When the day appears dark. When work becomes monotonous. When hope seems hardly worth having. Just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking.' Arthur Conan Doyle 'Think of bicycles as rideable art that can just about save the world.' Grant Peterson All of these quotes are great ... but this one might fit me best: 'Get a bicycle. You will not regret it, if you live.' Mark Twain Gotta love sentences that start with "if" ;-)

Victory

I think I've managed two weeks of biking without almost crashing into anything (well, except for two schoolgirls, but they weren't looking, so it was their fault). I also saw someone today who was cycling worse than me. That must mean I'm improving. Yay. There've been lots of people running in the past week, probably because of the Linz marathon. It's also been raining a couple of days, so I missed out on two days of biking. Which just makes me happier when I can finally get on the bike again. Two things I've noticed: - I'm becoming much more considerate for the needs of cyclists now (e.g. when I'm walking) and try to make space for them in areas where I know it can get crowded and annoying (even when I'm not seeing any cyclists). Everybody should switch between driving by car, by bike, walking and taking public transport, just to know the needs and obstacles of other people. That surely would improve the tolerance on the streets. - I'm saving shitloads of money. Because I'm not stopping at the bakery or the supermarket on the way home or to work, I've spent 100 Euro less on food this month!

Obstacles

I've been pondering on the greatest dangers to the urban biker:

- Cars
- Pedestrians
- The street itself (border stones, I hate you)
- Road works

My bet is on the last point. All crashes and near-crashes I've had so fare were due to road works. My second bet is on the street itself - sometimes combined with cars. Usually cars that block the bikelane. They certainly make biking more of a hassle. I think for the next election, I'm rooting for the party that promises to provide a better biking infrastructure.