On Your Bike....

This week I am doing something positive both for myself and for the environment – I am officially becoming a cyclist as opposed to a car driver.

It began in the spring, but after a bit of a wobbly start (literally) I discovered that I love my bike and the car sits abandoned in its parking place for weeks on end.

You’re probably thinking - I bet the bitch is going to tell us she’s (a) lost two stone, (b) dropped a couple of dress sizes and (c) entered her first marathon.

Unfortunately all the above are very far from the truth – still the same size, same weight and still lacking in athletic ability!

However, cycling has improved my life in many other ways…..

I have always been a bit suspicious when ‘experts’ have told us that physical exercise is a mood enhancer. I have tried the gym (dismal), running (agony), swimming (too wet) and ski-ing (too cold). I’m great at walking the dog – but that’s because I have to…

But I get cycling! It’s not exercise for its own sake – you actually get to go somewhere and there’s something so self-righteous about arriving at your destination under your own steam! Not only do you get to cycle through the park – you also get to go the wrong way down one-way streets (at least you do here in Switzerland). I’m always a bit miffed when someone zooms past me doing a ‘look Ma, no hands’ – and find myself muttering ‘Show-off’ under my breath, but that aside, I have noticed that we cyclists tend to smile at each other as we pass. Not sure why but it does happen quite often.

This week the car goes back to the UK. I shall be car-less for the first time in many, many years – and I’ll let you know how positive I am about that the first time I try cycling through a blizzard!