30 January 2010.
Vanessa is led out onto the square. The day before the Husband rode her from her temporary abode in Hertfordshire all the way to South London. She is therefore rather over excited. She has got the feel of the open rode, stretched her legs. She has tasted freedom. I fear the little square may be too limiting for her and that she will run away with me. I explain this to the husband, who looks truly baffled. I continue that I am concerned that she is too excited about her new surroundings and that she may even buck. Maybe we should put this off for another day.
The husband points out that (1) we have been putting this off for weeks already, (2) I am the only 26 year-old in the world who cant ride and (3) that on the basically that Vanessa is a bicycle rather than a horse she is unlikely to be particularly excited about anything very much and that she will only “buck” if I use the front brake by itself.
After a little more coxing, I mount. Saddle’s too high I think – cannot keep both feet on the ground at the same time, just tip-toes. Saddle is as low as it can, or indeed should, go, says the husband. And apparently, once I’ve got the hang of it, I wont need both feet on the ground very much. After a brief debate that I am very much a “both feet on the ground” kind of a girl, the husband, exasperated now asks “are we going to do this or not”… tempted to say “not, actually” but at the exact moment the toddler from next door passes us by on his tricycle. That’s only one more wheel than me and he’s managing fine. I will not be defeated by a three year-old.
Then we are off. Wobbling precariously around the square, playing a complicated cycling game of “stay as close to the white line as possible” – advanced stuff I feel. We must make an odd sight – a grown woman wobbling about on a bike, shrieking slightly, whilst a 30-something man jogs behind holding onto the back of the seat- promising when prompted that no, he will not let go.
So round and round and round we go. Me, Vanessa and the husband running behind. I learn to ride clockwise. We attempt anticlockwise but it’s harder to turn that way somehow. Maybe another day.
