Charlottesville Tomorrow’s story on kids seeing things from bicycles …
Before students got on their bikes on Tuesday, a short presentation was given on the history of the bicycle. The neighborhood explorers also reviewed maps of Charlottesville from 1920, to show how much, or little, has changed along their planned route.
Once the ride was underway, cries of “I have never been here before!†or “Quick, look at that!†rang out. The students said they were excited to see the city from a new perspective.
“I have never seen the city like this,†said one student. “Usually, I’m in the back of my mom’s car.â€
… made me think about this line from Earnest Hemingway:
It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle. ~Ernest Hemingway