Pavement cyclist

As I walked into work today I walked behind a pavement cyclist. I'd seen
him coming up the hill, and it was a fairly steep hill for the bike he
was on. He still made fast enough progress that he didn't inconvenience
me at all despite a few wobbles.

He was, of course, only 5 years old and on his way to school. His mum
was walking behind him and she occasionally put a re-assuring (for her!)
hand on his back when he wobbled. His bike had one gear and plastic
platform pedals---it was raining fairly heavily---yet he went up that
hill faster than many of the adult cyclists I see. His feet only came of
the pedals once and that was when he hit the flat bit after the hill.
His mum then had to run to keep tabs on him he was going that fast.

A few minutes later I passed another child, who by way of contrast had
just got out of a car and complained to his mum that he was getting wet!

Colin