As some of you know, I bought a bicycle in March, my first one in over twenty years. However, owing to a long and harsh winter, including snow in the last week of April, I wasn’t able to ride my new bike until last weekend.

Now, though, I’m trying to go for a short ride daily and am already seeing my neighbourhood, and myself, in new ways.

Up and down hills

A dear friend calls me “Jen up the hill” in reference to the distance between her home and mine.

However, until I got on my bicycle and felt the pressure in the backs of my legs when pedaling, I didn’t truly appreciate that the slow rise I encounter when walking Floppy Ears is indeed a hill.

I also discovered a new-to-me downhill slope by the stop sign at the corner of a nearby road and learned how to use my brakes in a hurry.

It’s like riding a bike

Although I was wobbly at first, both my muscle memory and balance soon returned and biking was as I remembered it with the wind against my face and joy of being on two wheels.

As a child, I learned to ride a bike using an older friend’s two-wheeler and still remember my excitement when the training wheels came off and I stayed upright while whizzing along the pavement.

I had the same feeling last Sunday afternoon, one of a skill learned long ago but never forgotten.

A new perspective

Having once been comfortable riding a bike with no hands, something that fills adult me with horror, so far I haven’t been brave enough to remove even one hand from the handlebars to wave at neighbours. 

And while potholes, pedestrians, dogs and squirrels are now hazards, I also now have a mental map of bicycle racks in my small town, am rejoicing in cycling trails I’d hardly been aware of previously and have even spotted cute bike-themed garden decor.

Cycling in middle-age

As a teenager too young to drive and in a one-car family, I biked to visit friends and get to places that would have otherwise involved a long walk or bus ride.

Nowadays, with a car in the driveway and many places I want to go in easy walking distance, I’m more conscious of biking to benefit my physical and mental health.

And while in my teenage years it wasn’t “cool” to have a basket, the salesclerk, close in age to English Rose, described my new bike and basket combination as “trendy vintage.”

It was only afterward I wondered if she was referring solely to me?!

A special limited-time 0.99 cent/pence deal on The Sweetheart Locket in the US, UK and Canada 

The ebook of The Sweetheart Locket is currently on an Amazon Kindle Monthly Deal for only 0.99 cents (or less) in the US and Canada, and the UK’s 0.99 pence promotion has been extended to match.

Readers are calling my new Second World War dual-time story one “of profound courage” and “warm, absorbing, and beautifully crafted” with “a satisfying ending.”

Find our more and get (or gift a book-loving friend) a bargain here.