Funny how in life, the anticipation of the event is sometimes scarier than the reality. I was seriously scared about getting on the bike. I am uncoordinated, floppy and lack confidence about physical things. Give me a mental problem to solve and I am confident and fairly quick with a retort. Make me stand up in front of a group of 800 people and say a speech, I won’t be scared about forgetting what I have to say, I won’t need to imagine the audience naked to calm my nerves, but I will be slightly nervous that I trip over my feet as I head onto the stage!!! I know my limitations and physical adroitness is not up there with my talents, it is one of the reason’s I have decided that I should learn to be better physically! Hence, the bike (and of course, my friend Debra’s incessant nagging to join her…)

We took our bikes down to the velodrome and put on our riding shoes with “cleats”. Let me make it clear, up until a month ago, I would have thought a “cleat” was something else and I would not have associated it with a bicycle, anyhow, we arrive, in our gear and vaguely look like people who know what they are doing. We mount our cycles. Deb sits and practices, getting her cleats in and out of the pedals. Me? I decide, I should just ride. I push off (some people say finally!) and click the cleats in perfectly, I feel the wind in my hair, the joy of freedom, I cycle round the velodrome grinning, like I have won the Tour de France. I come full circle, grinning at Deb’s husband, Peter. I smile and yell, “I am going to fall”, I grin and I elegantly land on my side, While Peter rushes to my aid!

Afterwards, he says “I had no idea you were going to fall. You looked so happy”. I thought about it. This bicycle thing is not unlike how I deal with my life. I love learning new things. More often than not, I just get on and try it. Often, I am so busy enjoying the experience that even when I fall I am still grinning. It has stood me in good stead in a lot of situations! What would also stand me in good stead would be a bit of planning and not so much waving to the crowd (in this case, Peter). I needed to have planned what I was going to do if I could not get my feet out of the cleats. I could have just done another lap, kept going and tried another click out of the pedals. Oh, well, now I know! I spent the rest of the ride clicking in and out. Being at one with many things is fabulous, being at one with a bike is great, except when you suddenly need to be “at two”.

How do you learn? And is it fun?

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Tanya No Dieting