You CAN Ride your Bike to Work in Trieste

But it is SCAREY!

I keep hoping I get the courage to become a Bike Person. I love the idea of using my body for transportation, but even though bikes are becoming more and more common in Trieste and I long to have the leggs of a bike courrier, I have not completely made the jump.

Here is why:

I took drivers' ed in Italy. I know what Triestine drivers have in their hearts. And it is NOT BICYCLE RIDERS. This means that in order to join in the cycling fun club you have to dig deep down inside and find what the Triestini call your CATTIVERIA, or what we can call our INNER BAD GIRL.This is the Wonder Woman you know you have in there somewhere who gives you the Courage to get on that Bike and ride it like it's a Motorin! Lots of Triestin girls have harnessed this energy and you can see them zipping in and out of traffic on their scooters. That is what I am talking about. I WANT THAT.

So I tried to go from my house out in the periferia in that area behind the cemetary (where I feared I would end up by the end of the day) to work downtown, and then back in the afternoon.

It was okay near my house. But the closer I got to downtown, the scareder (is that a word?) I got. in Via Carducci I lost my wits completely and went up on the sidewalk where I rode cautiously until I got pulled over by a cop (who was getting on his scooter) and told to get back in the street.

"But, I'm SCARED" I said.
"Then WALK your bike on the sidewalk" said he.
"Ok."  And that's what I did.

Until he was safely out of sight. Then I got impatient and rode my bike all the way through the pedestrian area to Ponte Rosso. I felt SO ATHLETIC, so FREE, so CATTIVA!!! I triumphantly got off my bike and carried it up  two floors (which in American would be three floors) to the Association office. There it sat for about a MONTH until I found the Baddy inside again and rode it (well, walked a lot of it) home again.