A Tale of Two Summits: Part 2
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It had the worst of views ; it had the best of views. Along with the relative silence, it was the sense of speed that I found surprising. Things – bushes, houses, trees, pedestrians – flashed past on both sides of the road. The distant rapidly became the close, and the near retreated with remarkable haste. People smiled as I passed them and some children laughed. My kids laughed. So did my wife. And, if the truth were told, so did I. As a kid you miss out on all kinds of things for all kinds of reasons – financial, emotional, physical. And sometimes you can’t explain an absence at all really. Bike riding falls into that category for me. Somewhere along the line of childhood and adolescence I missed the part where you learn to ride a bike. And having failed to do so at the appropriate time, I have never taken up the opportunity any other time. I became a committed pedestrian and public transport user, until (also later than most) I got behind the