I passed some motorcycles today. Six of them.
And a truck.
Going uphill.
One of the motorcycles didn't like being passed by a bicycle.
So he accelerated.
I shifted gears. I had been in the lowest gear. I've got a lot more
combinations than a Chinese motorcycle.
I still beat him to the traffic light. But only just.
Normal cadence in the lowest gear on this bike gets me 20-24 kph.
Normal cadence in the lowest gear on the last bike got me 14 kph.
William paid me for the old bike this morning. It is now officially
his. As if changing the height of the seat, removing the lock and
odometer weren't enough. It's not mine anymore. Officially. Not.
Mine.
But it still sits in the same parking space in the hallway next to the
dining room. And he hasn't actually done more than ride it around the
block. So, I'm still looking at it kind of wistful like. I rode it
for just shy of 1000 miles. I wanted to hit the magic number before
retiring it but the weather kept being yucky and I was in danger of
bursting from the anticipation of buying the new one. The fixed gear
bike I had from ages 12 to 18 or my first Chinese bike (October 2002 -
July 2003) might have made it that far but I don't think so.
In fact, except for that first one (which got stolen from someone else
right before a planned upgrade) this is the longest I've owned any bike
in China. It will always have a place in my heart. But as I *poing*
over my new love I suspect that the place for it is the dusty neglected
corner where I've also left all my ex-boyfriends. (And at the risk of
oversharing this bike has spent more time between my legs than some of
them did.)
It needed replacing. Sitting next to its shiny cousin makes it that
much easier to see the tears in the handlebar tape and micro scratches
it acquired when the kickstand lost a battle with the wind during
Typhoon Damrey. I was taking pictures of the way people were prepping
for the storm to make landfall and after being knocked over it skidded
nearly ten feet.
The handlebar tape also has two bandaids (one of which William peeled
off). The tape had been slipping but it wasn't really an issue because
my daily rides aren't that long. When we stopped in Fushan on the way
from Danzhou to Haikou I'd already been on the bike for four hours and
it was an issue. My wrists and hands hurt. Two of my fingers on my
left hand had gone completely numb. Someone more prepared than I (i.e.
someone for whom going on a 140 kilometer ride was not a last minute
whim) had real band aid brand bandaids in her first aid kit and it was
the only thing we had to hold the tape in place. Medicated.
The rear time has a pre-blow-out bulge near the rim. It's almost
completely bald. There is a large cut (maybe 1 cm) from the time I was
following someone who was very insistent about riding in the bike lane.
Three inch deep trench, six inches across. Simultaneously causing my
first and second flat tires.
The brakes have scratches on them too and, even now, after a whole lot
of futzing still aren't positioned quite right. The first time I went
more than 50 kilometers in one day I was thoroughly exhausted, cold,
soaked to the skin from a nasty drizzle, and going v e r y s l o w l
y in the bike lane. A crying child appeared practically out of nowhere
right in front of me. Escapee from mom during a temper tantrum. Left
tire tracks up her side, a cut on her ankle, a small scar on my elbow,
a bigger scar on my knee, and really impressive bruises on my inner
thighs. I should have gotten stitches on the knee but I didn't realize
it was _that_ bad until two or three days later when it got infected.
One of the reflectors is missing. It came off with a great big *crack*
after the parade in Danzhou.
It has been far too long since the chain was last oiled. And sometimes
when I bump it up or down stairs the chain pops off.
I know it needed replacing.
And it has been replaced.
BUT...
It is still sitting in the house. Cause my current living situation is
sort of kind of homestay arrangement and it was bought by my landlord.
My short, pudgy, busy landlord. And I -know- he isn't going to ride it
hardly at all. Pessimistic though it may be I -know- that this bike
will eventually end up in the garage. Or get sold to someone else.
I tried to find a good home for it. Someone who would love and cherish
it.
The other people in the riding club have nicer bikes. For them this
was not a safe, unstealable, utility beater bike that would fill an
empty 'cheap bike' niche.
And, even as they counseled me not to take less than 500rmb, the people
not in the riding club couldn't see the point in spending that much on
a bike.
400rmb was a good offer. $50 for my $102 bike nearly four months and
one thousand miles after purchase.
Now that is officially Not Mine I want it back. Even though I -know-
I'd probably ride it even less than William is going to. Even though I
-know- that once the first blush of new relationship disney chemicals
wears off with this new bike that I'm still not going to ride the old
one. Ever.
I park my new bike next to it and the handlebars looks so naked without
my odometer.
-M