January 4 Rides

[light_sabe_r]

Unusual commute to work this morning.

Riding my road bike cause she needed some attention, I was riding past the children's playground at stonescorner when I see a child probably no older than three sitting there. He called out "MUM!"

Now I thought it was odd...

Maybe his mum was a cyclist and was doing circuits of this track and left him there, But that's careless? Maybe he's been abandoned? Maybe he's an escapee from the childcare centre 500m away? Maybe he's BAIT for that psycho attacking women on biketracks on the northside of the river?

Anyway my moral self got the better of me and I turned around and headed back.
"BIKE!" He squealed pointing at my bright pink roadie. His face was COVERED in vegimite, so he must'nt have been abandoned...
"hello!" I smiled. "are you here all by yourself??"
he grinned "SWING!!!"
"Where's your mummy or daddy? We they going to swing you??"

then I heard a whistle... I looked around and saw a guy standing on a verandah of an adjoining house about 100m away... He waved. and I yelled at him "Hi there! Just making sure he's okay!"

and with that I gave the little boy a wave and rode off. I could hear him yelling "BIKE!!!" as I rode off.

SERIOUSLY I felt like a goose. But what parent would leave a three year old alone in the park! I mean sure his dad was watching him... BUT
1: There's a creek only 50m away... and if that kid wanted to go in it there would be no way his dad could stop him
2: What if he came chasing after me on the bike, or worse had run out infront of me or another cyclist, again Daddy's too far away from him to stop him
3: Anyone could snatch the poor kid and the dad whilst he may have been able to see the perpetrator could not do a thing about it!!!

If it was an 8-10 year old I wouldn't have batted an eyelid... If he was with other kids again I wouldn't have batted an eyelid...

But he looked younger than three!!!

but anyway. Got a few more kms in on my roadie. An interesting morning.

[Crankin]

Took my first ride of 2007. It was fifty one degrees when we left at 2:40 or so. I did a bad thing... I arranged to leave work about 25 minutes early, got someone to cover the last 25 minutes of my class and went home to meet my husband and ride. I guess a lot of other people had the same idea, because we saw tons of cyclists. Looks like we might have one more warm January day to ride outside on Saturday, if there's no rain.
Sixteen miles, my usual after work loop, but we went at a relaxing pace, since we did a really tough ride on the trainer yesterday. OK, on to grade papers.

[MomOnBike]

Did my first real ride of the year on my commute. (The testing my daughter's bike last night to see if I could ride in slush doesnt' really count.)

Pure ice & slush & general yuckyness all the way to work. I was glad I was riding my daughter's mountain bike - for all that it doesn't quite fit me. My 'bent is simply not built for conditions like today.

The biggest problem was that my glasses fogged up on the nice downhill run into work. Couldn't see a thing. Well, that and falling in front of the crew working on electric lines...

All in all a good first ride - I'm glad I didn't wait until conditions improved. I walked into work with a big grin.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

...I was riding past the children's playground at stonescorner when I see a child probably no older than three sitting there...
Anyway my moral self got the better of me and I turned around and headed back...

LightS,
That story reminds me of something from a ride i did a month ago or so...
I was biking down a wooded road in the middle of nowhere, chilly Autumn day. As I sped along, I thought I heard the small sound of a little cry in the woods- just one little sad cry. I figured it was a bird or something and kept riding. But yes, my conscious started eating at me- what if someone had left a baby or toddler oout in the woods abandoned?- they would freeze and die!
So I turned around and headed back to that stretch of road and stopped to listen- nothing. Road up and down a couple more times, called out, nothing.
Then just as I was about to ride on, there it was again, the sad cry! I had to wait for a third time to finally pinpoint what it was- it wasn't a child at all, it was two trees rubbing against each other in the wind, making a strange mournful creaking noise like the mast of a ship.
But I'm glad I did go back because it would have forever bothered me.

[light_sabe_r]

Lisa, I'm glad I'm not the only one who "turns back" otherwise it would eat at them...

Anyway... I went on a 25km ride in the afternoon on my roadie, took a deliberate route where I didn't have to unclip much at all.

I was buzzing so much I didn't fall asleep until 11pm...