My grandmother passed away when I was very young. I didn’t know her well and I always wish I did. When I was growing up, my mother would tell me stories about my grandmother, but none of them were as good as Helen’s. Helen was my grandmother’s best friend.
Helen is a neighborhood doctor in a quiet suburb of Gdansk, Poland. When I was a teenager, I would visit her often. “When your grandmother and I used to go to the market, your grandmother always got the best price!” Helen would tell me. “She was an independent woman, and during the 1960s, that was rare.”
Just like my grandmother, Helen is a free woman and a cycling enthusiast. Even today, she cycles around her small neighborhood on a daily basis. Years ago, doctors used to walk to patient’s homes. But not Helen. Helen would cycle to her patients. She still does. She has an old rickety bike with a big wire basket attached to the front. A long time ago, I remember riding in that wire basket when I was very small. Nowadays you can see her cycling with a bunch of groceries or some fresh vegetables she “borrows” from my grandfather’s garden.
For Helen, cycling isn’t just about exercise, it’s about fresh air. “It keeps me feeling young,” she says, crinkling her nose and sneaking a small smile. “My bike has been with me for many years, it’s seen my children grow up and marry. It’s seen my husband and I turn gray.” Helen’s husband is reaching 80, and he still cycles with Helen.
A few times a week, Helen cycles from her home in Gdansk, all the way to Sopot and back – a whopping 24 kilometers (almost 15 miles)! She can sometimes cycle close to 50 miles in one week. This year, Helen will turn 74 yet she looks much younger. Her arms are firm, her legs robust. Her face is kissed lightly by the sun, for she has spent many afternoons cycling along the beaches of Sopot near the Baltic Sea. “I love the feel of the beach breeze on my face as I’m cycling along without a care in the world.” Helen often says, “There isn’t a place I would rather cycle than at my hometown here in Gdansk.”
Whenever I don’t feel like getting up early to cycle on a Saturday morning, I think of Helen. I think of the stories she tells about my grandmother, and I think of her old rickety gray bicycle. I think of how Helen can cycle 15 miles in one day and still look amazing at 74. That’s when I get myself up, get dressed, tie my shoes, and slip on my trusty biking gloves for a day out on the trail.
Even though I don’t have the breeze of the Baltic Sea in my face the way Helen does, every time I cycle by a lake or another beach, I think of her. She is my inspiration. I wish that one day I’ll still be cycling when I’m 40, 50, 60, 70, and even 80. “If you can walk, you can cycle!” Helen couldn’t be more right.
