At first, it was a big thing to get on my beautiful new e-bike and ride down Heywood to Beacon Hill Park, to go through the Park to the compost pile, and turn around and come back home again. It was maybe a kilometre and a half. It was a Huge Step Forward.
Turning was a challenge, getting started was a challenge, staying on and balanced was a huge challenge. Remembering I could change gears and didn’t have to struggle was a huge challenge. Keeping my mirror aligned was a challenge all by itself too. Then, I was riding in and through the Park, going down little slopes without braking, letting myself enjoy the speed – wow! And then riding on real streets, going past parked cars, remembering the lanes and turn signals, stopping and starting and keeping up.
Having cars pass me was scary … until it wasn’t. Turning and starting always meant wobbling all over the road … until it didn’t. Finally I could add the turn signals, finally I could scratch an itch without stopping, finally I could coordinate the gears and assist levels to go all the way up to the top of Beacon Hill itself. THAT was an accomplishment! I liked the feeling of that A LOT!
My first real ride was going through the Park down to the Dallas Road bike path, riding down to Ogden Point (or as close as we could get with the construction), then over to Clover Point, then back to the Park and home! I’ve walked that distance and it took over an hour, one way. Here my friend Lisbie and I had done it both ways in about 15 minutes. 6 km! Amazing! And with other riders in the mix now too – learning the courtesies, ringing my bell, getting passed by men in spandex at speed! OH WOW! My world suddenly expanded. Then I went out the very next day and did it all again, all by myself. Yes, I could! That was amazing too!
Then riding on real streets with traffic, not the easy back streets of south Fairfield, but Vancouver St almost all the way to Fort. And back. Getting braver. Riding with my bike coach Susanna down Humboldt to the bike lanes on Wharf St, over the Blue Bridge and along Harbour Road to where the Goose, the Galloping Goose Trail, the real thing, turned off! And on the way back, coming up Pandora to Vancouver, over to Fort, down the bike lane to Wharf, over to Humboldt and back to Vancouver and home again. Really riding in the real downtown! Traffic lights and traffic! 8 km! My world expanded again.
Lisbie took me over to the Goose again and up over the trestle and past the switch bridge to Saanich Municipal Hall, where we met some regular Grandmother Riders for the first time. For me, it was a destination; for them, just a marker point on a much longer route. My world expanded again.
And now it keeps on expanding, every time I ride. There have been and continue to be so many firsts. Learning the E&N Trail through Esquimalt. Riding more than 10 km on one trip. Doing it again the very next day and finding it easy! Then riding more than 20 km on one trip – not so easy then, and still not so easy. YET. Riding with other Grandmothers and learning how to keep up. More than doubling my Victoria Grandmothers for Africa Cycle Tour Goal of 50 km. Then whipping out and more than tripling it without half trying, this past week.
I am a Grandmother Rider! I have done one Tour, my first, and I promise you, NOT my last! My kids and my sisters are proud, my friends are astonished, and I am on a whole other level of being, with worlds opening before me every time I ride. This Grandmother is a force to be reckoned with – I’m a Rider, now! What started out as Having to ride became Wanting to ride, then Looking Forward to riding, then Having Riding Adventures! Here I Come!
Many thanks to my friend Laurie who met me at a bike shop, so many weeks ago, and helped me buy a bike helmet – she knew the bike would follow! Thanks to my bike coach Susanna Grimes, who helped me with the basics, that are now almost instinctive. And Huge Thanks, finally, to my devoted friend Lisbie, Grandmother Biker Extraordinaire, who kept getting me out and riding when I barely dared to do it myself, who rode at my slow, slow pace and gently encouraged me to go faster, who was always positive when time after time I despaired of ever getting the hang of it, of ever finding it easy. She never gave up, she always encouraged me and supported my efforts, she always pointed out the positive accomplishments amid the slog of practise. At first she led the way, and then when it became my turn to lead, I knew that she had my back.
What a gift! I could not have done this without Lisbie. As our African Grandmothers say, Thank You, Thank You, Thank You.
Because of a pivot due to Covid, the Victoria Grandmothers for Africa (VG4A) 2020 cycle tour was individualized, and therefore much more inclusive than usual. Participants could register with any kind of bike, with any amount of experience, and set a distance target for four weeks of cycling that suited themselves. This allowed women like Linda Mills, a long-time member of VG4A, to become one of the Grandmother Riders.
Photo Credit: Julie Elizabeth
Click here for a related article on e-biking.
1,220 views