Round & Round We Go Cycling Through Life

THE CYCLE of life sometimes includes letting go of long held attachments.

I called this drawing by my daughter Penelope Puddle Grows Up because the character looks older. And although her playful spirit remains, she has set aside her much-loved umbrella and is learning why balance is bliss on a bike.

Things we cling to naturally drop off as the years go by but sometimes they grow. The drawing brought to mind society's dependency on gasoline powered vehicles and the need to stabilize an attachment that has grown out of proportion. Highways and country roads overflow with cars and trucks spouting harmful emissions. To minimize the effects and to promote health, my neighbouring city of Vancouver is peddling the idea of being one of the most bicycle-friendly places on the planet. My blogging friend, Carol, is ahead of the curve and has been city cycling for years. You can view her fantastic photographic journey in and around Vancouver at bikesbirdsnbeasts.

When I dust off my bike (it is not quite as unused as the one pictured below) and go for a spin, I feel like a free spirit venturing into places automobiles dare not go. I am more in touch with the terrain and my environment.

I still get in the car and drive to Crescent Beach for my walks unlike the cyclists taking on the steep hills surrounding the town. Big city or small, up hill or down, it is clear bicycles have taken off as a mode of transportation. They are parked on lawns and in racks wherever I go and I see people of all ages relying on their personal energy to move the rubber down the road.

Competing with cars for our affections and space on the road, bicycling has been quietly growing since the early 1800s. In the latter part of that century, science fiction writer H.G. Wells became a passionate cyclist.

Romanticizing his experience he wrote, “After your first day of cycling, one dream is inevitable. A memory of motion lingers in the muscles of your legs, and round and round they seem to go. You ride through Dreamland on wonderful dream bicycles that change and grow.”

Wells is also sometimes credited for saying, "Whenever I see an adult on a bicycle, I have hope for the human race."

Song writer and musician, John Lennon, actually slept with his new bicycle. He said, "As a kid I had a dream - I wanted to own my own bicycle. When I got the bike I must have been the happiest boy in Liverpool, maybe the world. I lived for that bike. Most kids left their bike in the backyard at night. Not me. I insisted on taking mine indoors and the first night I even kept it in my bed."

It seems bicycles and cars developed at close to the same time frame. In fact, the first automobiles looked like tricycles and side-by-side bicycles. But as unlikely as it sounds perhaps bicycles will one day win the race to become a top form of travel. Bill Nye (known as the Science Guy) made an interesting point when he said, "Bicycling is a big part of the future. It has to be. There's something wrong with a society that drives a car to workout in a gym.”

It will not be easy to give up the keys to a craze that started so innocently. Read about the vintage cars that charmed us HERE.

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Copyright by Penelope Puddlisms