Cycling has been a part of me for a long time. At times it has been a game, at times a mere necessity, and most of the time, a very convenient means of getting from point A to point B. Many memories come up when I think of bikes.

As a kid, my siblings, my neighbors and I had a stretch of road just for the six of us: it was and still is a cul-de-sac road serving only four houses, so totally safe. We used to draw road markings in chalk and play "circulation", to mimick what adults did with the car. One of the bikes I remember using was what we called the "Easyrider". It was dark red and had that big white saddle, that sat very low compared to the handle, that gave it a bit of a Harley feel. That was so cool and we would fight over who would get to ride it.

All through grades three and four, I rode my bike to school. And not just me — almost all the other kids did too. We were such a huge mass of cyclists that we would cause traffic jams. Thinking back, that was a really enjoyable experience. It gave us so much safety, even if some had to walk and push their bike on the steep uphill portion of the way. At that time, however, I was riding my older sister's bike, a girly bike with that U-shaped bar you see on girls' bikes. And it was a fuchsia color, if I remember correctly. It was perfect for getting made fun of, which was the least fun part of it. Oh, and having schoolmates steal accessories off it was also a nuisance, especially when I would have to beg father for yet another valve cap!

When we visited our grandparents, we had only very few toys to play with. One of them was what one would now call a vintage tricycle for toddlers, with the pedals directly on the front wheel. Back then, it was just a tricycle that happened to have belonged to my mother. I was way too tall for it and it was far from cool. But hey, it was good enough for fooling around in the front yard.

Later, I would commute to middle school in the neighboring town, first on an older bike (my parents did put a lot of emphasis on the concept of "reusing", but "reducing" and "recycling" were also part of our daily life), then, as I grew bigger, with a brand new bike, which was my pride and joy. The commute took a quarter of an hour each way, and I would even ride home for lunch. That experience was an eye-opener, I felt much more independent while my classmates were taking public transport, were tied to its timetable and not even necessarily faster than me.

Thirty years later, after a long hiatus from cycling (university, first jobs) when I was commuting by public transport only, I decided to get back into cycling, and dusted off my old bike. I had to bite the bullet though, because my commute is now three quarters of an hour each way and it would be cut in half by public transport. So there's obviously no gain in time. Nevertheless, I soon realized that I really enjoyed that time spent and getting some exercise was not bad either. I even started to notice things around me which were totally invisible to me before that, like flowers next to the curb, like the smell of wood from a sawmill or the scent of elder flowers after the rain. I never regret having made that choice and I will continue to commute by bike even after the home-office phase due to corona.

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