My 7 year old lad has caught the bug.
Yesterday and today constituted his first 'commute to school by bike' days and he's hooked. Its not much more than half a mile but it includes a nice run through the park and relatively little on-road riding. Its quite a hill though. I was rather impressed on the way home that he managed to ride most of the way up through Meersbrook Park on his rusty little singlespeed bike. He only got off and walked on the steeper bits.
Sadly he is in a tiny minority at his school. Only 1 or 2 other bikes ever get locked to the railings there and although a lot DO walk; far, far more are driven the short distance from their home to the gates which is very disappointing.
12 September 2006
07 September 2006
For those born before the 80's
Found somewhere on t'internet. I was born in 1967 and it certainly reminds me of my own childhood. I like the conclusions.
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing and didn't get tested for diabetes. Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of the milkvan on a summer day day was always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, bread and butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because we were always outside playing! We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were o.k.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no internet or internet chat rooms. We had friends and we went outside and found them! We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live in us forever.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!
School football teams had trials and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever! The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all!
And you are one of them! Congratulations! We had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good."
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing and didn't get tested for diabetes. Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of the milkvan on a summer day day was always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, bread and butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because we were always outside playing! We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were o.k.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no internet or internet chat rooms. We had friends and we went outside and found them! We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live in us forever.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!
School football teams had trials and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever! The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all!
And you are one of them! Congratulations! We had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good."
06 September 2006
Squirrels and spokes
01 September 2006
Tour of Britain stage 3
What a wet day that was! Took a ride out to Hope to meet Alan and go watch some of yesterdays stage. Wasn't too bad coming out of Sheffield but going over the top at Burbage was awful - in the clouds, windy and driving rain. The descent into Hathersage was quite scary given the conditions and lots of crap all over the road.
We decided to watch them come up the hill at Millstone Edge and so set off via Hathersage and Grindleford with time for a couple of drinks at Fox House beforehand. In spite of the awful weather there were plenty of people up there. The lead group came up at a hell of a lick with a big gap between them and the chasing group. The next two groups came up at a much more leisurely pace. I could have kept up with them assuming I hadn't ridden 100 hilly miles beforehand!
The ride back to Sheffield afterwards was even wetter. I don't think I've been so soaked after a ride before.
Anyway - nice that we treated the pros to some proper British summer weather!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
