For Raúl Torres Olea, riding a bicycle is not just about learning to pedal — for him, cycling is intrinsically linked to notions of independence, balance, and freedom, values Raúl always wanted to pass down to his eldest daughter, Isadora Torres.
However, he had to wait almost 20 years to see his daughter cycling in perfect balance.
The long-awaited moment of joy was only possible because of the pandemic lockdowns, when life as we knew it came to a halt, and the Chilean family managed to snatch back a moment that they believed had been lost forever.
Isadora and her father Raul when she was a baby. Source: Supplied
Raúl became a father at an early age. Before he turned 25, he had already seen the birth of Isadora and Joaquín, in his native Chile.
Teaching Isadora to ride a bike was something Raúl always longed to do when she was a child. But at that time, the young father worked as a technician in the mining sector.
He worked long hours in the mines and later divorced, so he did not get to spend much quality time with his children. Time passed and the children grew up.
Raul remarried and in 2017 moved with his new family to Australia.
Read and listen to this story in Spanish:
Gracias a la pandemia… recuperamos el tiempo perdido
Years later, Isadora and Joaquín came to visit him and while her brother only remained for a few months, Isadora decided to extend her stay as a way to become closer to her father.
However, despite living in the same city of Perth, Isadora and Raul saw little of each other.
Life as an international student kept Isadora very busy with her English courses, and then with her social work studies, in addition to her casual jobs.
But the dynamics of this Chilean family in Western Australia changed when authorities announced a lockdown that lasted several days.
Spending so many hours with her father was a totally new experience for Isadora.
We started to really get to know each other. We got to know who we are, what we liked and what we didn't like.
"It was like regaining something that life owed us, something we had to do at some point; but of course, since we lead crazy, unrelenting lives, there was never any space for that ... until the pandemic arrived," she says.
For the first time in many years, Isadora and Raúl had the opportunity to properly reconnect.
For Raul, the most tangible moment of joy was when he encouraged Isa – as he affectionately calls her – to learn to ride a bicycle.
Raúl taught Isadora how to ride a bike. Source: Supplied
This pandemic, as awful as it is, helped us as a family... It made us realise what we had been missing, what we could do, and we remembered that Isa had never learned how to ride a bike.
"I always told her that riding a bike was like swimming, like swimming on dry land. It gives you a sense of freedom, independence, and control... We started practicing with an old bicycle, and it worked," Raúl recalls.
Isadora remembers that moment. She says her heart filled with emotion, as learning to ride a bike also became the pinnacle in her journey of reconnecting with her father, a process that had taken more than 20 years.
They were finally together, sharing a unique moment.
While life outside the family home was pandemic-fuelled chaos; inside, behind closed doors, Isadora was cherishing the opportunity of being 'a child again'.
It was a super special moment for both of us because I felt that protection, that feeling of being a child again for a split second. When I was able to ride the bike the joy was inmmense.
"And beyond riding a bicycle, it was being able to achieve something that we could not attain when I was a girl, and we were finally doing it!" Isadora says.
"It was quite cute and exciting and an opening up so that we could unite much more as father and daughter."
