| Rider |
June 14, 2018
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| On this day, in the morning, he was riding on his bicycle to his job place. He worked in one of the buildings in the downtown area. For his daily commute, he usually took a bus but sometimes rode his bicycle. His company didn't have a parking lot for the workers. He could use his car if he didn't mind paying for parking, but it was expensive. He didn't mind to use buses or ride his bike. He was an environmental conscious person. He thought that if more people used buses and bikes, CO2 would decrease and traffic would be lighter and buses would become faster and more convenient. His city adopted 'Public Transportation & Bicycle Encouraging Policy'. In the rush hour time, morning and evening times of weekdays, some lanes became the bus lanes and other cars couldn't use them. The city also made bicycle lanes in some areas. In his country, bicycles could pass on sidewalks, but bicycle lanes provided safety for both pedestrians and bikers. He lived in a residential area. When going to other areas, bikes sometimes would be faster than cars. Bikes are convenient  because one can choose the shortest roads, or go on one way roads, or go either on the right or left sidewalks, and can avoid as many traffic lights as possible. Especially during the morning time as traffic jams were heavy, so riders could get to their destination earlier. Although buses have their own lanes in the rush hour time, one still needs to walk from one's house to the bus stop and wait for several minutes, and again walk from the destined bus stop to the final destination, so it takes a lot of time. But, buses do have some strong points. One can relax and read books and one doesn't need to care about rain or snow. On this day, it was a little rainy in the morning but he decided to ride his bicycle to work. It was spring time, so a little rain wasn't a big matter. He put on his rain clothes and started to pedal. The rain was light but constant. He soon realized there was a high school girl who was pedaling about 5 meters ahead of him. She wasn't wearing a rain coat. Sometimes, young people, especially high school students, don't wear rain coats. They think it was cool not caring about the rain. When he was young, he thought so too. He wanted to pass her. Following a young woman in a skirted uniform seemed to be embarrassing for a middle aged guy like himself. But she was fast and her pedaling was strong. He couldn't catch her easily. Her bike looked like a simple one, and he had a sports type. He thought, "Is she a track athlete or something in her club activity?" Not only her pedaling pace but also her way of riding was aggressive. They were pedaling on the sidewalk of the road which ran along the river. Many cars passed by them. After a while, the road came to a T-intersection with a larger road. He would turn right and go onto a bridge to go to work. Maybe her course would be the same. When she came to the T-intersection, she turned right. She made her turn just in front of the first car, which was set to turn into the larger road. She didn't hesitate. It was a bold decision. If the car started, she would be hit. He cried out, "Wow!" His voice was erased by the traffic noise. He followed suit. After passing over the bridge, they had two choices, keep on the present sidewalk, but there was a possibility to be caught in the frequent traffic lights that were ahead; or, to cross the road. As there was a traffic jam, cars were moving very slow. She started to go between the cars, and managed to get through them. He followed suit. It looked rather dangerous but how could he stop when the high school girl could do it? This type of thing lasted until his course separated from hers. It was like that of a person following behind an ambulance during an emergency. At last, he stopped to go his own direction. As he watched her go her own way, he realized that he didn't get rained on at all. All cars around him looked wet. "Had the rain been avoiding her, and as a result, me too? No way!" But her way of riding was so amazing that he thought that it was a miracle. He liked to ride on his bike, sometimes interesting things would happen while pedaling. |
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*conscious :ΦSΜ’
*adopt :Μp·ι
*encourage :£i·ι
*destined :s«Μ
*bold :ε_Θ
*follow suit :ν€