No Hands
“I am a man!”
Nearby co-workers turned their heads as I strolled into the office with great pride and triumph booming from my voice. They were are all obviously deeply curious and jealous about whatever achievement had caused me to display such manly pride.
“What is it this time?” one of them asked.
“I have just successfully figured out how to ride my bicycle with no hands.” I waved my hands as I relayed the story in case there was any doubt that I had hands.
“Congratulations,” my obviously envious Dutch co-worker replied, “You can now do the same thing that every five year old in this country can do.”
Not to be put down by this I grinned and quickly added, “And I have the language skills to match.”
haha brave man! I have never even attempted it! I have trouble enough staying upright with my hands ON the handlebars :P
Tammy – I was feeling dangerous. I’d already been cycling along with just one hand on the handle bars so I figured I would see what happened if I took it off… and I didn’t fall down :D
Kudos!!! You belong to the incrowd now :-). However, did you you know there is a new hype now? It entails keeping both hands on the handle bars so nobody gets hurt…….
I suppose now that you have invaded Holland and are their ruler (what’s the status on that by the way?) it is only fitting that you show that you are prepared to fit in and not issue some strange law like riding bicycles without ears or other appendages.
I bow down to your superior skill. Yesterday I was riding along with one hand and thought, “one is almost none.” However, removing that second hand nearly resulted in me riding into someone’s (parked) car.
AstridQK – But I don’t know if I can ever go back. Not now I have tasted the rush of no hands cycling.
Unexpected Traveller – That is a very good point indeed but that makes me wonder… as the new ruler of Holland should I really be risking my life? (As for how it is going; I’m still waiting for the Queen to reply to my letters)
Heather – I’ll admit that I started with baby steps. First taking the hand of for a second, then two more seconds and so on until I had it up to 20 seconds. Then, an evening later I did it for a fully 2 mins. But I was slightly drunk and fear of falling was gone from my mind.
Wow! I’ve been here for 21 years and I still can’t/won’t do it. Hot!!!
Kiks – I’m a man of many talents. Even if I do say so myself :p
Hah, my Dutch friends tell me if I haven’t learned how to bike without hands it’s because I haven’t been drunk enough yet. ;)
So wait, based on the picture does this mean you’re the only non-tourist in Holland who actually uses a bike helmet?!
Yvette – Haha. No, I don’t use one at all but Cartoon Stu does and maybe I should too. and they are right. Being drunk does help. Not that I was drunk walking into the office in the morning in this story.
Twenty or so years ago, I used to be able to ride with no hands. Now I’m lucky to be able to ride at all. I think being very young and being drunk are pretty similar: no fear! Congrats on your achievement!
Alison – Thank you. And I like the way you compare being drunk to being young :)
Great post! Well, if it makes you feel any better, I for one am insanely jealous! I’ve been trying to figure out how to do that since I got here and I’m lucky if I can go five seconds without at least one hand on the handle bars. What’s the secret??
I managed it once, when I wasn’t thinking about it. I was still putzing with my scarf and coat when I pushed off. About 100 m later, I realized “Holy crap, what am I doing!?” and stopped before I realized that I’d been trying to do that for the past year.