Journey To My Cycling World

Cycling was my favourite when I was a child, but now things have changed drastically as I have no time to cycle except at work where I have to borrow from my colleague.

I still remember vividly when I started cycling. I was 5 years old and was not afraid, even though so many of my mates were afraid of cycling. Anytime my mum drop her bicycle, I would sneak outside and sensibly take her bicycle out for a ride. My friends and I had to go for a ride just for fun.

Riding a bicycle has been for fun but nothing else except for exercise. This was our thinking, as we were timid in thought. We do have a competition among ourselves just to keep us happy. It was for our immediate happiness and nothing more. I was not allowed to go out, but cycling would not pass me by. I would try as much as I can to ride to my satisfaction. Likewise, I would cycle until sweat would be seen draining out of my body and even that, I would not stop.

My mum had to stay by the gate side waiting to lash me for disobeying her order, but after putting much fear in me, she would pardon me for real. So, I never joked about her kindness. When I was ripe to ride on a bicycle, my mum would release it to me at any time without complaining. Something I learned when I was still in the village was to repair bicycles. There is no bicycle I can come across that I cannot repair. I got this training from one of my friends, Godwin. He is making a living, or can I say has made a living from it? Godwin has made a lot of money on this business of repairing bicycles, but I was not made to follow that path.

This gentleman has a talent for repairing bicycles. At a time, people started calling me a bicycle repairer, which made me quit. I was not ready to accept that name, and so quitting was my first option.

I know how to fix the hub, the wheels (to straighten it, especially when it is bent). Not only that, but I can apply grease to the hub when placing the balls in the bearings, I can patch the bicycle tube when it gets flattened up, and so on. So, there is nothing I cannot fix when it comes to the aspect of the bicycle.

Back in the days, I could travel by bicycle from my town to the nearest town and even farther away. The only thing I had to do was to take some money to be used to buy some food. I also had to buy table water just to sustain my journey.

I had experienced so many forms of setback as a result of the tube bursting or flattened. The flattening of the tube may be as a result of a puncture or some other things like placing the bicycle in the sun for too long.

Now, I'm a grown-up, and I am entitled to cycle at any time without being questioned. I had to collect someone's bicycle anytime I felt like riding on one. Some days ago, when I was at work, I decided to collect my colleague's bicycle just to exercise. I rode around the school compound for a few minutes just to make my body feel lighter.

The next day, which was just today, I decided to ride on another one just to make my body feel normal since fatigue has overtaken my body. I saw bicycles as a means of exercising the body and a means of transportation.

My colleague bought the bicycle after discovering that the price of transportation is on the high side. He didn't have to spend money on transportation since he had the bicycle. At some time, I thought he was just joking about riding on the bicycle but looking at things, he was so ready to ride on the bicycle just because of the fuel issues in my country. Looking at things, one does not need to buy fuel before cycling. So, my colleague has saved himself some money.

One of my students also has been coming with a bicycle just because of the fuel hike that has affected transportation expenses in my country. The parents of this student had to buy a bicycle for their ward just because they were unable to afford the school bus fees.

My student who is a female decided to ride on a bicycle. When I saw her riding, I decided to capture her. She was so perfect riding it and has been riding on bicycle for some time now. Her parents do rent bicycle for kids who are learning on how to ride. She leaned how to ride bicycle through the ones her parents had.

All images are my properties and taken by me