TRANSPORT IMPACTS

We find ourselves out the front of the restaurant after a lovely meal, there’s two of us and one bike.  We have a concert to get to and we have minutes to cross the town to get there.  “Jump on my bike” is my instant thought and away we go after a couple of wobbles to get our speed up.  We are involved in one of the great past times of children, lovers and friends alike – dinking! 

What a name!  What a past time!  What a great topic of conversation to bring up with anyone with a few wrinkles and a head of grey hair.  I have had conversations with my grandma, a guy on the train, a couple at a funeral, and when the topic turns to cycling, they pretty quickly want to tell me about their dinking experiences.  How they courted each other, how they got around as kids, how they got their kids to school – it all involved more than one person on a single bike.  They talk with fondness, including stories of the various mishaps – which are just a fact of life.  It always makes me feel a bit fuzzy to hear of the joys cycling has brought to people in the past.

Does dinking belong in the past where safety standards weren’t as high and a bike was highly prized and something to be shared?  I think there is room for it to come back. 

While cycling was not a big part of my childhood, I have embraced the concept with my fair share of experiences being “the dinker” and “the dinkee”.  Not only is it fun, it can be challenging, it can be an adventure, it can be romantic and I guess it’s a pretty efficient way of getting around as long as your bike can cope.   You get some interesting looks and the ocassional cheer as you and your passenger fly through the street.  I think it’s an important representation of the lighter side of cycling, which is important in an age where lycra, bicycle performance, speed and conflicts with cars seem to swallow up the coverage of the cycling world.     

If you think your bike is sturdy enough why not try dinking someone.  There are an array of ways of getting them to stay on your bike with varying levels of comfort for the rider and the passenger.  The front handle bars or basket gives the passenger a great view (and a great workout for their abs), the crossbar gives you a cosy configuration, the rack is easy to get on and off but it makes the bike a bit back heavy and if you are a true gentleman/lady you can always offer them your seat and you can stand to peddle.  I would love to get some dinking pictures together, so it would be great if you could send them in.  If you have hints for stability or maximising the fun of dinking please leave comments.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 19th, 2009 at 6:31 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.