271 words.
A route I would love to cycle? Around the Burj Khalifa.
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You would think human beings would all take to cycling like ducks to water because we, like cycles, are bipedal (get it? No? Hint: two feet, two pedals).
Maybe some people do. I, however, was not one of them.
Even though I’d happily ridden around as a kid on a cycle with training wheels and a white basket, I couldn’t figure out how to balance on just two, thin circles of rubber. What if I fell and hurt myself?
So, for the longest time, I didn’t even bother.
Then, the summer after I turned 16, my mother bought me a cycle. I named her Berenike, after a character in a book about Cleopatra I’d just downloaded off Gutenberg. She is blue, for the most part, and has tires that are in constant need of air.
For a week or so, my sister held the back of the bike and walked along behind me as I struggled up and down the road that leads to our house. Finally, on Palm Sunday, I rode without any assistance or support.
It was pretty darn awesome! And scary. But so much cooler than not being able to propel myself forward on a vehicle powered by my sweat and burned calories!
Since then, I have fallen from my cycle a couple of times, and then gotten back on. I even graduated to scooters and motorbikes a little later, though that lasted for just a little while.
I still can’t take turns very well on two wheels. That might be one of the reasons I prefer four wheels, and why both my licences (Indian, Emirati) are for cars.
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Day 46: Favourite character from children’s lit.: Anne Shirley, her final days
Rounded with Facets 