VIRUS DIARY: Cycling in COVID London gives hope in the gloom
LONDON (AP) - I moved to London in 1997. I was 31. So, 手段ing by my London years, I´m only 24.
Over the course of my London life I´ve 蓄積するd at least 12,000 減刑する／通勤するing hours - 500 days - in the London 地下組織の, 地元で known 簡単に as "the Tube."
Spending all that time 地下組織の was my choice. I enjoyed people-watching, reading 調書をとる／予約するs, or counting how many stops a person takes to put on make-up or finish a 挟む. Hopping on a bike to cover that 旅行 up above was never an 選択 - racing 二塁打-decker buses and 激しい lorries through busy London streets wasn´t my cup of tea.
Where I （機の）カム from, cycling meant something different. In my childhood in the Croatian 資本／首都 of Zagreb, bicycles weren't 道具s designed to bring you from A to B in 記録，記録的な／記録する time, but 乗り物s for new, carefree (and 激しい traffic-解放する／自由な) adventures beyond the known world of your 近隣. I 受託するd what I thought was an inalienable truth: I would never be able to experience that in London.
Then COVID-19 こそこそ動くd into town.
Lockdown ground London to a 停止（させる）. I 不正に needed to find something 肯定的な in the 強調する／ストレス and madness of the whole 状況／情勢, and I 設立する it: The 適切な時期 for bike adventures beyond my usual daily world had 突然に opened, and my wife and I decided to take advantage.
A social distancing message during the coronavirus 突発／発生 is spray painted on a street during a bike ride AP 新聞記者／雑誌記者 Nino Bantic was on in London, May 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Nino Bantic)
For the first four weeks of lockdown, we did not leave our home. Then, with the fifth week approaching, we opened our bike sheds. There, two bikes, left behind by our once-teenage kids, were waiting expectantly.
The first ride was surreal. 証言，証人／目撃するing an 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の time in our city´s history, we 乗る，着手するd on a once-in-a-lifetime 旅行 to 砂漠d tourist 目印s, meandered through the ghostly empty streets of the city and experienced a true "tell your grandkids" moment when we ended up 存在 the only people outside Buckingham Palace.
They say that in times of 危機 and self-reflection, it is 必須の to be able to see glasses as half 十分な, rather than half empty. But even our half-十分な glasses needed 週刊誌 最高の，を越す-ups.
ーするために 動機づける ourselves, we created different 主題s and 的s for our rides. "London: East to West." "負かす／撃墜する the Thames." "The Northern Canals." Together, they 手渡すd us a 完全に different 視野 on the city we had been living in for １０年間s.
Flood 障壁s. River lighthouses. Statues of 近隣 heroes. Places of historic arrivals and 出発s. Former ドッキングする／減らす／ドックに入れるs. Victorian canals and locks. Abandoned or 変えるd 倉庫／問屋s. Shuttered pubs. Kebab & curry houses. Hidden picnic 位置／汚点／見つけ出すs and 予期しない pockets of countryside. All told, we have almost 400 miles of 井戸／弁護士席-known, lesser-known and 全く unknown parts of London behind us.
As the lockdown 進歩d, we realized we were not alone out there. Many other Londo ners （機の）カム to the same idea. So many, in fact, that there was an eight- to 10-week waiting 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） for bicycle orders. Many 会議s have decided to build 付加 主要道路s for cyclists, and many drivers are unhappy. 嘆願（書）s from all directions are pinging around social マスコミ. Bike buzz has taken 持つ／拘留する of London.
We´re not sure what the 未来 will look like, but helmets, lycra, and flashing lights are already part of our new reality. If nothing else, it will come in handy for our `City at Night´ ride later this week.
The 20-加える miles we 計画（する） to cover will be a piece of cake. After all, I´m only 24.
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ウイルス Diary, an 時折の feature, showcases the coronavirus pandemic through the 注目する，もくろむs of AP 新聞記者／雑誌記者s around the world. Nino Bantic is a ビデオ editor for The Associated 圧力（をかける）, based in London. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/BanticNino
