How Everything Started

Hi,

This is a blog about cycling. More precisely, this is a blog about my experiences and emotions while cycling. But before telling them, let me speak a little about myself.

The bicycle has always been part of my life. At age three I was doing my first spins without the training wheels. Despite that early feat, I am rather clumsy on the bike and crash quite a lot! Having grown up in a town founded by the Dutch, the bicycle was not only the means to escape and feel free, it was a lifestyle enjoyed by everyone there.

After moving to São Paulo, the bicycle returned to my life, but in a different way. I tried to ride a few times on a road bike, but the frame was too large for me and I left it alone. It was also in São Paulo where I suffered a life-changing accident. After months stuck on a wheelchair, I recovered and returned to walk, but I felt pain on each step I made.

Once I’ve got to New York, I decided to the give bike another go. The miles of bike lanes encouraged me, and my first ride around the bike shop’s block gave me a revelation: I felt no pain at all on the bike. For the first time in over a year I felt like a normal person, just like everyone else!

Since then, the bike returned to my life more intensely than ever. I have ridden it for shopping, to take my kitten to the park, to travel to other cities and even to cross states lines. In this last year and half the bicycle has transformed my life on each mile completed. On those miles I felt joy, sadness, surprise, pain, anger, fatigue, freedom, and fulfillment. On the following posts I intend to tell you more about those experiences.

Welcome.