Judging by the stares I get when I’m peddling the Halfbike, I get the feeling nobody has seen the likes of this in Toddington. Here are my latest adventures….
Toddington is a sizeable village in Bedfordshire. The population is quite varied, a fairly affluent community and probably a little conservative. As we have been living in the Dusty Museum for a little over four months, it was time to give the Halfbike a few outings.
I pumped up the tyres, made sure everything was tight and then I just stood there on the side of the road. I wondered if I could “remember” how to ride it. Memories of those early rides, the clumsy wobbling up and down the road rushed through my mind. I told myself to stop faffing around and just get on with it.
Standing over the Halfbike, one foot either side and tightly holding the hand grips I peddled off. With a lurch to one side, then to the other, I somehow built up some speed and I wondered what the fuss was about. Easy peesy. As there is a very slight incline going down towards the village green, this was so easy; I was gliding along. Phew, I’d got the hang of it again!
Now that I’ve had a couple of rides, it is fun to think of the reactions I’ve had from folk. Firstly there were some school boys who stopped walking, almost staring in disbelief as I wizzed past them.
I want one of those!
Wow, you see that, what is it?
One of the other outings was to the pharmacy in the grounds of our Doctor’s surgery. I freewheeled down the slope and stopped on the paving right outside the pharmacy; as the Halfbike stopped I simply stepped off, leaving it standing there. There was a woman standing outside, waiting for her turn to go in. I could tell she was looking at me and the Halfbike but doing her best to be subtle about it. I thought she was toying with the idea of asking me about it but then a customer was leaving the pharmacy and then it was her turn to go in. She kept turning around and looking at it through the windows but quickly looking the other way if our eyes met.
I have never thought of myself as being an exhibitionist, maybe I am? Nevertheless I really enjoyed the experience. That experience also includes having a workout, which actually was the reason. You see, compared to riding a bicycle, you use different muscles and, to be honest, this is hard work. My arms and shoulders were telling me they’d had a good workout, so too were my lungs, heart, legs and even my hands and fingers!
So I’m so pleased to have the Halfbike, a press sample which apart from initially writing about it, it has proved to be a really good, fun bike to have. Sorry, not bike, Halfbike.