Car-free Caro punts bike lanes
2005-10-18 22:40
JOhannesburg - Car-Free Day in Gauteng, on October 20, will be like any other for 53-year-old Johannesburg resident Caro Russell.
She has pedalled her way into a decade of relaxation, reduced spending and improved health ever since she adopted cycling - after two cars were stolen during what now feels like a previous life.
Last year, Russell drove a car again for the first time in 10 years.
"It felt strange to be steering while sitting in this cage."
If there's one call she would like to make, having set such a car-free precedent, it's for cycling lanes to be built alongside Johannesburg's main routes.
"There are a lot more people out there cycling these days," says Russell whose roots make her appreciate being able to cycle.
"I grew up in a children's home where there was one bicycle for 150 kids. If you had a chance to ride it once a month you were lucky."
Life's turned around for her
Recalling how she felt the last time she walked out her house to see that her car had been pinched, Russell says: "I was filled with animosity and hatred."
However, after a year of cycling, things had turned around for her.
"I was saying to myself: 'Thanks guys, if it wasn't for you, I would never have got into this'."
She says she has not even begun to count how much money she has saved.
Having once been someone who could not walk out the front door without her car keys, Russell now sympathises with those who get stressed commuting in heavy traffic.
Part of her daily commute to work is a hill up Fourth Street, Bez Valley, which she once drove up daily taking her children to school.
"When I first started cycling it took me a good, solid three months to make it up Fourth Street without getting off my bike."
Singer Bob Dylan helped.
"I used to think about his song - Positively Fourth Street."
More on Russell's mind now at weekends is the thought of a cup of tea in her friend's lounge as she pedals across the city to Fairlands for visits at weekends.
"Then, as I head home, I dream of the comfort of sitting in my own lounge talking to my husband, enjoying a cigarette."
Wants to ride across Africa
In between, taxi traffic along Beyers Naude Drive requires utmost concentration to avoid becoming a road casualty.
"Cycling lanes would make things a lot better," she says.
Meanwhile, her cycling aims are not confined to the streets of Johannesburg. She would like to pedal across Africa.
"In my mind I see myself on that bike, pitching a tent among the elements and the elephants.
"It's something I think I shall have to do."
- SAPA