Yup, they sure do. Some of them bike in skirts, some in suits. And most of them will go flying over the handlebars at some point (or was that just me?)
I endoe'd twice on my mission, the first time I did a flip and ended on my feet, the second time, I slid on my chest and legs like a base runner. My garments did nothing to protect me, but my Swedish knit suit barely sustained a scratch.
Sort of ot here, but why is it in some missions sister misshes only drive cars but in others they ride bikes, with nylons and heels on as well as some here have mentioned?
In our current area we have sisters and they don't even have bikes. They get a car on the weekends and have to walk everywhere during the week. Its a suburban area and we get quite a bit of snow in the winter. I always feel bad for the sisters.
When I was a teenager we had sisters in our ward (which was huge geographically, it covered more area than the rest of the stake combined)They had a car but got rebuked several times for using too much gas/miles and the MP put a limit on how many miles they could drive during the month. So these poor sisters would drive until they were 2-3 miles away from an appointment, park on the side of the road and walk the rest of the way. I tried to give them a ride once when I saw them walking, but I think there was a rule against riding in cars with underage drivers (I was 17).
Rode bike in skirt in urban/suburban/mountainous areas. Flew over my handlebars twice. First time (stupid mistake on my part), as I lay in the middle of the road, and as I looked from my sprawled state two women were hovering over me for a second, waved their fingers in my face and called me an idiot for riding my bike "like that" as they walked on by. I started laughing at myself because that was so typical of a reaction by some French people.
Second time I was hit by a truck. I was pretty bruised and bloody but nothing broken. Not my fault that time since he came out of a one-way street going the wrong way.
Yep. I was in a couple of cities that were built on the sides of mountains. I was in charge of trying to dupe people many miles away from the missionary apartment, too. We would make day trips of it to go all the way out there, be rejected by everyone, and make our way back in the evening.
I lost a lot of weight on my mission, even though I was already skinny before I was a missionary. I was 6' 1" and only weighed 140lbs. I had members tell me often that I looked sick and that they were worried about me. I ate enough, but it's hard to keep any weight when you're out riding a bike and walking all over town.
Yes, they do. It seems in my mission they have a limited number of cars for the misshies, so the cars always go to the misshies with biggest or more remote areas. This mission doesn't have much flat road to ride on... I even overtook a pair of elders on bike in a very hilly part of town not long ago, looking like they were about to drop dead from heat exhaustion. (Good thing they weren't wearing suit... just the white shirt and tie and backpack (and obviously with garment on... it stood out nicely from the sweat) :oP
I don't think the bicycles are uniformly supplied, though. I've read of elders in the area having to find bikes on their own (one found a rather lousy one with a chain that broke in the first week, the other was loaned a bike by a local member). Then I knew of a pair of sisters that got theirs through a bike rental service. Really nice bikes that came with matching helmets and service kits. I guess they are from richer family that can afford sending extra money for that.
Don't know about other missions, but it seems this one have a TiWi on all the cars (and the misshies hate it). It tracks all sorts of driving record - miles, speed, erratic turning, etc. Got a feeling some would trade the car for the bikes (but would probably trade right back after the first few days up and down the rolling hills!).
Bus, bikes, and hills. Dogs were the worst part. I did build strong legs. I was hit by a slow moving car in an intersection and went head over heels and landed on my feet. I had a minor scratch on my hand and the driver was scared to death. Ended up in the dirt once, too, when I hit a loose patch. Dirty but no harm.
Saw another missionary riding fast behind a bus with his companion riding to the outside of him. The bus stopped and he didn't and slammed into the outside rear corner and then just fell back onto his seat. He was a big, solid kid and the incident left the bus with a big indentation and the missionary with a sore shoulder.
Missionary in another mission was killed on his bike before I got into the mission field. It's a wonder we didn't lose more of them.
I was visiting my youngest son in his apartment and as I was leaving two sister missionaries came out of their apartment a few doors down. One got into the car and the other stood behind to guide her out, although there was plenty of space. New policy, I guess. Anyway, I asked the sister doing the guiding if she'd like an orange safety vest. She didn't think that was funny.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/03/2012 11:51PM by robertb.