Survive first road races - check

I participated in my first 2 road races this weekend. Granted, I did enter a few road races in college, but that was back in the dark ages when they lumped Cat 1-4 women all together. The gun would go off and I'd wave the pack goodbye as they took off across the horizon. This weekend was a much better experience, although I had to negotiate in and around some of those notorious early season Cat 4 crashes.

Saturday: Mason Lake #2
Up at 3:45 a.m. to catch the 6 a.m. ferry to Bremerton so we could get to ML in time to set up, sign up, and warm up for our 9:40 a.m. race. It was pouring rain. It was cold. It was western WA in March at its finest. My plan for popping my road racing cherry was just to bury myself in the pack and observe everything around me. I'd let my more experienced teammates hang out up front and hand out some attacks and reel in the others. Contrary to the horror stories I'd heard about pack riding, I was doing well keeping up with the pack and the surges and feeling pretty good sitting in.

Towards the end of the first lap, my confidence was growing and I moved up towards the front and the rest of my teammates. I was riding next to Jane going up a small rolling hill when suddenly the road bottomed out and swallowed up the 2 rows of girls in front of me. I tried to negotiate the carnage of carbon and aluminum and rubber sprawled all over the road, but I ended up hitting someone's tire and falling over like a wounded elephant. I remember thinking as I fell over and got up, "Aha! I have a steel bike! I'm invincible and can keep riding while these girls will probably have fatal carbon damage! I'm the smartest person ever! I rule!" With that piece of adrenaline I remounted my bike, looked down to see my bars at a 45 degree angle, got back off, straightened the bars, then got back on and took off as quickly as my shaking body would let me.

Now there's nothing like a little adversity to really get my ass in gear. I knew there were girls up ahead of me somewhere, I just didn't know who or how many. It didn't matter, I was all amped up and racing into battle. Slowly I made my way around the 2nd lap of the course and ticked off other riders one by one. The rain poured over the brim of my cap. My HRM rocketed into Zone 6 (if there was one). I saw my teammate Breanna up ahead with another rider and I yelled out her name. She looked back and was happy to see a comrade join her. The 3 of us rode in a rotating paceline for the next 8 miles, chasing down that lead pack we'd only heard rumours of. In my head I knew the chance of catching the lead pack was slim, but my extreme stubbornness and huge dosage of adrenaline wouldn't let me capitulate.

As the 3 of us rode together, I analyzed how the last 200 meters would pan out. The Winos girl was staying with us and was fairly strong, although she mentioned that leading on the rollers was getting to her. Aha! A sign of weakness. I knew Breanna was strong, too, and she's got youth and a flyweight body on her side too. We approached the 1 km mark that coincided with a large downhill dip in the course. I knew the only advantage I had on these 2 girls was that I weigh about twice as much as they do so I'd put my ballast to my advantage and rocket down the hill and use the inertia to take me to the finish. Or so I envisioned. I approached the dropoff and kicked the gears into 14...13...12... and I blasted down with everything I had.

But then.....the downhill turned into an uphill. Like 600 more meters of gradual uphill. YOU IDIOT!!! I scolded myself. Those girls are probably right on your ass and you just gave them a free ride home. Fuck, what a moron. I still churned it as hard as I could and looked back. No one was there. WHAAAA??? No one??? Holy shit where did they go??????!?! How did I screw this up? I couldn't believe that I left them in my dust, but it was true. I could see the white finish line tent just up ahead and I knew I could make it.....to what placing I had no idea, but I'd finish ahead of the other 2, fighting and strong as can be. I looked back a few more times and eventually saw the Winos girl coming up, but I had a solid lead and took it home. I crossed the finish line with an exhausting sense of accomplishment and teamwork. I couldn't have completed the race this well without the help of the other 2 girls. The Winos girl rode up beside me and we patted each other on the back. Good work! It was more a sense of enduring a hard battle together rather than competition. Breanna and I gave each other big hugs for helping each other during a very cold, wet, challenging last lap. THAT was teamwork.

In the results I was 13th out of 36 starters. Turns out that I was the first person from the crash to cross the finish line, too. Not a bad first road race. It's got to get easier, right?

Sunday: Tour de Dung #1
After the Mason Lake race, the team caravaned north to the bucolic town of Seqium, where we dried our soaking wet clothes over the hotel room heaters and invaded WalMart (I swear I was only there for bottled water). Luckily the rain shadow effect was working for us and the day stayed dry and even warm and sunny for a fantastic race along a mostly flat course with a few bumps thrown in for flavor.

I was pretty pooped after my aggressive ride the day before. Given my history with chronic fatigue, I was leery of pushing myself into unknown territory, especially for 36 miles with girls who were there to go FAST. If someone had given me a hall pass to not race and to kick back and get some sun, I would have taken it. Not having that out, I sucked it up and lined up with everyone else. As I told my teammates at our pre-race meeting, my plan for today was just to sit in the pack, learn some more skills, and conserve energy so I could last for 36 miles.

At 10:10 a.m. we left the start behind the lead car and the journey began. I felt fine at this nice leisurely pace, but of course after the first turn, someone who ate their Wheaties that morning had to go and attack. We were off, and I was buried in there keeping up. The road was still wet from some early morning rain. There were a few newbies in the pack (as in new-to-bikes newbies). There were some aggressive, more experienced racers. Hmmm...not a good combination, kids. At one point only a few miles into the race, we were going at a good clip when 2 newbies got spooked by others moving up beside them and they swerved hard on the wet pavement and took out themselves and 3 others. One of those included a very experienced rider from another team. I looked back and saw her face and left shoulder buried into the pavement with no movement at all. That...didn't...look...good. The sight of her immobilized and the other downed riders shooting across the wet pavement like ice cubes wigged me out a bit and I seriously questioned why the hell I was participating in this ridiculous activity risking serious injury when I could be home playing with my plants and being safe. (Turns out she suffered a broken collarbone, broken helmet, and lots and lots of road rash. WEAR YOUR HELMET, ASSHATS!!!)

The next 3 laps included a few pseudo-attacks, some slow social paced sections where I caught up with girls I hadn't seen since last year, and me basically sucking wheels at the back. My energy was feeling better, but I didn't think I had it in me to be up front and chasing down attacks or instigating lead outs. I'd let the more experienced, energized ladies handle that load. With about 8 miles to go, a Group Death girl made a solo attack, which no one responded to. With the Pineapple Express rolling in, it was a crazy windy day so no one thought she could hold that break solo for so long (WRONG!). At about mile 32 the pack was slowing down and I finally felt like speeding up. Why were we going so slow (Duh! Because they've been doing all the work!!)??? I was like a puppy going to the dog park, but my owners were too pooped to tag along. I rode up to the front of the pack and pulled it along for a while, but held back when it was obvious that no one was going to help me. Screw that shit! I'm not that stupid, it's going to be a sprint for the finish really soon.

We rounded the last corner and I positioned myself to the far right, slightly behind the first row. The 1 km passed (ha! I know better now!) and we held our line. The road started its slight dip towards the white finish line tent and I knew it was now or never. I threw the gears down and pulled in front of Jane so she could take my wheel. She was by far the best sprinter out there and if she had my wheel for a few hundred meters she'd be able to take it and then I could swoop in behind her. It worked mostly like that. Jane did catch my wheel, then zoomed past me, but a Winos girl was glued to her rear wheel like cement and I knew I'd have to settle in behind them. To my left another girl came up and I saw in the corner of my eye that it was my teammate, Katy. The 4 of us swept across the finish....Jane, the Wino, me, then Katy. It was a great finish and gave our team 5 of the top ten spots! The race was a very fun time out by Dungeness Spit with our team vying for the series win with the most team points. Tour de Dung #2 and #3 coming up the next few weeks. Stay tuned, wheelsuckers!!

Help Kenny Williams Lose His Hair!

This was passed on to me by friend Jane, whose coach is the rather accomplished track racer, Kenny Williams. Kenny is known locally as the guy with huge legs and a lot of medals around his neck, but he's also well known for his unruly mop of hair. This spring Kenny has decided to join the St. Baldrick's Foundation campaign to raise money for childhood cancer research. If he raises $8,000 before March 15 he will publicly shave his head at the Celtic Bayou in Redmond! Help us make cycling history! Any amount is welcome and if you work at a company who matches donations, you can double your contribution! By donating to the St. Baldrick's campaign you're helping out little kids with cancer, and the world cycling scene by getting Kenny on track (so to speak) with a new improved doo. Check out his Spaces page for more info and a link to donate. Thanks!

She's got game, baby!

Some of our teammates went to the first Mason Lake road race this weekend and Jane managed to outwit the whole pack with some cunning tactics and a killer sprint that launched her past the other contenders and across the finish line. This is her first road race of the year and her first road win, too! Jane's worked so hard to get here, even though it's just the beginning of the season. I'm so proud of her, she's an inspiration to us all. Way to go Jane!!

Redemption

On Sunday six of us fine ladies drove up to Everett for the Frostbite Time Trial. I originally had no plan to participate in something as mind numbing as a time trial. It's like riding your trainer. But with scenery. Yawn. But then I saw that the organizer was having a "Retro" division for those without delicate foo-foo aero bikes, sperm helmets, aero bars, or any other go-fast toys. "Hell yeah!" I said to no one but my fleet of steel bikes. This category was made just for me. I'd strut to the start with my steel Serotta, wool knickers, wool jersey, "your bike sucks" socks, and they'd practically have to hand over the first place winnings to me right there.

The morning was your typical cold, intermittent rainy February day. Our team put up the tent and we positioned our bikes on their trainers so we could have a place to congregate and warm up. One other teammate was in the Retro division with me, but the other girls were armed with their slick carbon fiber go-fast machines that looked like something out of Aeon Flux. One junior came over and was checking out my bike. "Wow, that's vintage. My dad has a bike like that from back in the 80s." If that little punk wasn't so adored by the local cycling scene I would have pounded his 10 year old ass into the ground. "It's only from 1996!" I yelled back. Then I realized, that little punk wasn't even born when Ben Serotta was crafting my frame. Fine. Let him gaze in wonderment. My steel frame and I were out to kick some carbon fiber butt today.

I threw my leg over my bike and started to warm up with a high spin. I plugged in the Ipod, put my head down, and cranked Rollins' Hard Volume at full volume. Nothing in the world gets me as pumped for kicking ass like listening to old Hank bellowing from my headphones. Search and Destroy.

The other girls quickly rolled out to the start one after the other. I was the last to go and had enough time before my start to get some beta from Jane after she got back. "There's a headwind on the way out, so go out like hell because that's where everyone else will relax. Then crank it with the tailwind on the way back." I wandered down to the start line and met another woman in stars in stripes who offered me the same advice. Our captain came over to offer encouragement and last minute advice. "Start in a power stance. Go like hell. Get something angry in your head. Turn your cap around so it doesn't catch the wind." We also learned that she had beaten Jane by 1 second. ONE SECOND. The egging over that 1 second will last until long after this day has ended. It also reinforced that in a time trial, there is no opportunity to slack or flake out. It's total concentration and 110%, lest a rival takes advantage of your weakness and takes 1 second from you.

Thirty seconds....fifteen seconds....five...four...three...two...one....GO! I charged out of the holder's hands and cranked it for as long as I could and then settled down into a steady groove. Jane was right, there was a headwind. I watched my speed gradually tick slower and slower. 17mph. Crap! No! I couldn't drop to 17. I tried shifting to spin more smoothly and get up to 18, but nothing worked to get it back up. The wind had to let me go. It finally did around a bend and I saw my speed increase by small increments. Cars whizzed by, I tried to keep my heavy breathing steady, I watched the mileage slip by. I felt strong, I was pushing myself, I had nothing to lose and it would be over soon enough so I'd better make myself suffer. Soon I was at the orange cone turnaround and I made it around without going off the road into a ditch. My spirits lifted and I cranked it back towards home knowing there would be a tailwind to carry me towards the finish.

I clicked my rear derailleur onto smaller and smaller cogs and I felt my legs take their power and transfer it into pure speed. I was deep in the drops watching my speed hold steady at 23mph and my HRM reaching further towards the top of Zone 4. Damn, I haven't done this kind of work since the last CX race. Good thing Kele's off in Manchester so she doesn't know! The half-miles ticked away and up ahead I saw the orange flags demarcating the final 200 meters. That's it! I cranked it, I pushed it, I gasped for more air. I kept thinking of that 1 second and knew there was no way I could let someone beat me by 1 second without giving everything I had. My upper body bobbed and swayed as I pushed my legs and bike forward, harder than they thought they could go the last weekend of February. I zipped over the finish line and looked at my speed: 25mph. My heart rate was waaaaaaaaaay into the hallowed ground of Zone 5. My brain was so anoxic I couldn't remember if I was on a track bike or road bike and if I could stop pedaling after the finish line. "Screw it," I thought, "I wanna stop pedaling and if I crash I really don't care...." Thankfully it turns out I was on a road bike and I didn't wipe out in an unglamorous, uncoordinated heap.

Back at the tent we all regaled our rides and laughed at how much we suffered and what inane thoughts crossed our minds while going so hard. We were covered in wet road slop from all the rain and our bikes looked like they'd been through a CX race. I was totally high from the speed and endorphins and said with wide eyes that I want to try a fasssssssst bike! The feeling of hurtling through space must be very similar. We compared times and it turned out that my winning Retro time was only a minute behind my teammates with their aero gear. This left all of us pretty impressed by my simple achievement on an 11 year old steel bike. I was so proud of my bike. It was fast, it was smooth, it was stealth, we made a great team. I knew this would be a good season to come, and on a vintage bike to boot.

Smells like fish poo

I often have dreams about my plants in which they bombard me for requests to be watered or to be moved around or to have their leaves trimmed, or more recently, for some yummy new fertilizer. I'd had it in the back of my mind to eventually get them some Alaskan liquid fish fertilizer that someone highly recommended to me a few years ago, but it was the middle of winter and they're supposed to be nice, quiet dormant plants. Easily guilt-ridden by all things phototrophic, I got on my bike for a trip to the Fred Meyer, where I found a huge container of the Alaskan goo.

At home I prepared lunch for all my plant friends. What a treat they had in store! Even though they ordinarily shouldn't be fertilized in the winter, I figured they were sending me a message while I slept that they were hungry and ready for spring as much as I was. I don't know what roses I was expecting to emanate from a bottle of fish shit, but I had to clear my head a few times as the fumes diffused into the air and quickly turned my kitchen something reminiscent of Nemo's outhouse. I stuck with the process and fed all my little friends knowing that they'd be happy and for that I would gladly put up with a little stench.

Only a day or two later I could instantly see a difference! Their green leaves glowed a little brighter and they puffed out with newly found strength. Best of all was Zack's amaryllis began to awake from dormancy and its little bulb shot a stem straight up towards the moon. Now a few weeks later, it's about to bloom and brighten the gray days with its brilliant red plumage.

How I really feel

After my dismal performance at our team's Mason Lake training ride yesterday, I had a weekend-long pity party that included 2 pints of Ben and Jerry's (no, not at once), a new pair of Ibex wool knickers that I've been eyeing for almost 2 years, and these socks, which I've been hunting for since last summer (but have been too lazy to order on line). When I line up at the first race at Mason Lake in 3 weeks I'll be tricked out with my new knickers, these socks, and the only 10-year old steel frame with a WSBA number on it. I don't need a carbon fiber frame to show what I can do. Once my coach let's go of my leash I'll start ramping up and kicking ass again on the same kind of frames they rode in the peloton just 20 years ago. Kiss my old skool ass, bitches!!

David Horsey for mayor

(Am I the only one who thinks of Jabba when I see Greg Nickels?)

First road race dream

Last night we had our monthly team meeting and this one focused on prepping and strategy for the upcoming Mason Lake race in March. Everyone talked about how when they were new they'd be "blown off the back" their first few races, and some talked about their goals of just "finishing with the pack." Ok that's setting up some confidence. I've done plenty of track and CX races around here, but no road races so I have no way to judge how fast it will be or how I'll measure up to the other girls in the pack. For now my goal is not to go home in an ambulance.

So last night I had a dream about the Mason Lake race. I lined up at the front with the huge pack of girls. Our squiddy friend, Stanglor, was also in the line-up. Turns out in my dreams he races with the Cat 4 women to challenge himself (although in real life he plays a Cat 1-2). The gun went off and I sprinted to the front and held a fast pace with the lead racers. After one lap (they were only about a mile around) I gunned it again and made a solo breakaway. I didn't really know what I was doing, but I somehow had the confidence that I could hold this breakaway and not get caught. My lead kept increasing and the crowd was going nuts. After 8 laps it was time to sprint for the finish. I looked back quickly and could see a few girls and Stanglor coming up from behind to try and out sprint me, but I made it to the finish line first.

As we were waiting for the results, Stanglor was bragging about winning the race. I went up to him and said, "Um, no babe, I won the race. You weren't about to lap me, I was in front of you the whole time." He was totally shocked that a newbie first time racergirl like me could kick his ass, but I did. My teammates congratulated me on my impressive win and even Phil hobbled over to pat me on the back.

Somehow I don't see myself making a solo breakaway and tromping the field my first race. But if any guys race with us Cat 4 women I'll make sure to put them in their place.

Rainbow!

After snapping a few photos of the pretty rainbow I took my bike out to do some errands over in Ballard. Alas, as quickly as I pedaled, I did not find a pot of gold on the Ballard Bridge. Only SUVs.

for a boy

i want to ride my bike with you!!

around the block would surely do,

we could stop and watch the moon

then ride home to kiss and spoon,

i know one day it will come true.

A miracle grows in Texas

Again, just when I thought humanity - let alone the state of Texas - had nothing left to offer me, I find this:

Texas governor orders vaccine for all girls

AUSTIN, Texas -- Bypassing the Legislature altogether, Republican Gov. Rick Perry issued an order Friday making Texas the first state to require that schoolgirls get vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer.

By employing an executive order, Perry sidestepped opposition in the Legislature from conservatives and parents' rights groups who fear such a requirement would condone premarital sex and interfere with the way Texans raise their children.

Beginning in September 2008, girls entering the sixth grade -- meaning, generally, girls ages 11 and 12 -- will have to receive Gardasil, Merck & Co.'s new vaccine against strains of the human papillomavirus, or HPV.

If this law makes it through the weekend I'll thank my lucky Lone Stars. The vaccination would be covered by insurance and even be free for low-income families or those without insurance. Having a right-wing conservative look past his convictions to protect women from a preventable form of cancer is unprecedented. Hopefully he'll have the integrity to use his ethical reasoning to influence other conservative legislators who could make this law across the land and show that science and saving lives comes before personal religious beliefs. And having the vaccination's owner, Merck, put some extra money in their pocket never hurt a politician.

The Kitty Washing Machine

This is for The Raz. And for all you other kitty aficionados out there. Please don't try this at home.

BRILLIANCE

Just when I thought humanity had nothing left to offer me, I find this:



The Ortlieb toilet paper dry bag. I so could have used this in India where I ported my own tp from the northern borders to the southern oceans and was always doting over my precious precious cargo. Sure I can use plastic or ziploc bags, but thanks to these geniuses it will forever have its very own PVC cocoon and it can hang from the nearest shrubbery.

The virtue of good pudding

I wrote to my coach, Kele, that I've returned from the other side of the world and that - not too surprisingly - I got my ass kicked on our team ride up Squak Mnt outside of Issaquah and around Lake Sammamish yesterday. Besides my ass not being on friendly terms with my Brooks, my legs had no muscle to push or pull the cranks around the hilly route. It took an enormous amount of fortitude to keep up with these chicks who have been training like mad the past 5 weeks. I finished with the team, but my body let me know how unhappy it was with me by relegating me to the couch for the rest of the day.

What Kele wrote back was music to my ears, "Yea, don't sweat the team ride...and don't push it too much....gradually build, my child, GRADUALLY!! I'm sounding the "Take it easy" alarm....REST and build..."

I was worried that I'd get a "Well what did you expect being gone for 5 weeks?" but she gave me the perfect mix of encouragement and humour. I know I'll get my legs back in a few weeks and will be able to rock that route with the other girls and then some.

But for now I took her words of rest to heart and celebrated with mass amounts of Belgian chocolate pudding that made the day even brighter. Hey it's only January....

Wiiiiiide awake

4:27 a.m., 4:43 a.m., 4:00 a.m. Those have been the bright green numbers I've woken up to the past 3 mornings since getting back from the other side of the world. It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to wait 3 freakin' hours for the sun to come up or 2 hours for the newspaper to appear at my door. I remember waking up at a similar hour the first week or so in India, but there I had a better reason to go back to bed. Here, I make some coffee, read more of Shantaram, and wait for dawn to brighten the sky. I've been falling asleep around midnight so there's been an awful lot of darkness in my day, which I'm not particularly enjoying. I was hoping I'd be back to my normal routine by the end of the weekend, but that's looking doubtful. Rhi said it took her a week to get back to normal. Right now all I want is to wake up with the sun prying through my blinds and see my clock reading another hour other than 4 a.m.

CX World Cup Carnage

I feel so graceful after watching this.

Creeeeeeeeak

Another birthday and no better way to feel old than to ride 35 miles after a month of no biking. Rigor mortis has set in my legs and tomorrow morning I do the team's first big hill ride of the season. They assure me that I'll be fine, there's only one big 30 minute climb and the pace will be slow, but anytime you put together 20 competitive girls there is no thing as slow. Maybe I'll get some advantage for being wide awake 4:30 a.m.

Rub his tummies

India did not let me go easily. For my last night in the country, Zack and I went to our favorite restaurant, a hole-in-the-wall, word of mouth kind of place where the food is a symphony of spice and flavor that leaves you in silent, gluttonous satisfaction. After walking the busy, vibrant streets of Mumbai we went back to his apartment to wait for our 1:30 a.m. cab that would take us to the airport for the last time. We filled the last hours with reminiscing through pictures and laughter, finally succumbing to a short catnap. I woke up to watch him sleep peacefully next to me one last time. I wanted those last minutes to stretch out forever, but my wishes fell silent as the earth's inertia kept the night moving towards morning.

The cab ride was quiet as we drove through the brightly lit city with the windows down and its stench filling my head for the last time. We pulled up to the airport terminal to find a bustling airport with people everywhere - sitting on the curb with their luggage, standing in one line or the other with their luggage, or lined up at the windows peering inside. It was obvious that this was going to take a while so I was glad we got there 2 hours early. We followed one line that appeared to be the one into the terminal. Moving nowhere, I took a short walk up ahead to see what was in store. I saw a sign and a booth that said "Visitors 60 rupees" and took that as Zack needing a visitor ticket to get inside, except there was no one in the booth to buy a ticket. I scanned the line of people going into the building, the Indian military guard waving people away at the door, aborted hugs and kisses and tears, and the mass of people pressed against the windows looking inside for their loved ones. It was easy to surmise that only ticketed passengers were allowed inside the terminal and that Zack and I only had about 2 minutes until we got to the entrance. Ever the optimist, he said "Well let's see what happens," but when it was our turn the guard saw that my ticket was only for one person so he said Zack could not enter the terminal and we begrudgingly stepped aside.

In the early morning hour surrounded by the confusion of thousands of people also trying to leave Mumbai we had no choice but to quickly rip off the band aid and say our goodbyes. I didn't want to let go because it would mean I'd have to break loose, walk into the terminal, and start my life for the next 3 months without him and the closeness we shared. Love that had grown even stronger over the past month would have to wait until the next reunion in the States in May. I didn't want to let go of all we'd experienced and learned together this past month, in many ways more special than the months in Seattle. Love could live anywhere, I found. It was ignorant of surroundings or geography. One of his colleagues is from France and at TIFR with his wife and 2 year old son. Where they live is irrelevant because they have their love for each other and can foster it anywhere, even as the sun sets over the Arabian Sea. I discovered that I could walk through any doorway in the world with Zack and be just as in love by his side.

Holding onto him one last time, part of me was scared like a little girl, but the rest of me knew I was strong and smart enough to carry through another 3 months apart like I had before. So I let go of his green t-shirt and made my way into the terminal, where I watched him follow my slow progression through the windows with hundreds of others who shared a similar longing to be near their loved ones for just a few minutes more.

After 30 minutes in the baggage screening line and sending each other waves and funny faces, it was time to head to the ticketing line deeper in the terminal. I blew him a kiss and waved goodbye and I saw his green shirt and huge smile for the last time before he turned back into the spice and warmth of the Indian night.

PictuesPicturesPictures

A picture is certainly worth a thousand words and I couldn't begin to adequately describe all we've seen and done, so I'm working more on my Flickr site and trying to comment on all the photos we've taken, almost 500! Mike has also done a great job posting his photos. He's done an amazing job of capturing the candid side of the culture. I was often too self-conscious to whip out my tiny camera and photograph what I saw, but Mike managed to do just that.

Sandakphu trek - Himalayan mountains and prayer flags

Various India pics - TIFR, Kolkata

Darjeeling - Monkeys and prayer flags, tea, and Tibetan fry bread

Kerala - Coconut trees and small bikes

Mike's - All that and more

Indian bike fun

For our last bit of traveling we spent a few days down in the tropical town of Allepuzha in the southwestern most state of Kerala. "Alleppey" is known for its houseboat tours, which we had a wonderful time doing and enjoying a few hours of idyllic luxury. But until that began we needed to kill a lot of time. So we managed to borrow some bikes from our guesthouse and decided to ride out to the beach. We weren't expecting much given the uniform brand of simple, black utilitarian bikes ridden all over India. But these were 2 of the sorriest bikes ever to have 2 wheels. Zack grabbed the more mtb type bike while I got the "Ladybird" lady's model. Each pushed the limit of just how far a bike can function while being completely consumed by rust. The rims, spokes, chain, frame, and brakes looked like they'd been dunked in salt water for a few years. Even my bell (and if you're ever in India you know that a bell is a requirement if you want to pedal in traffic) was so completely rusted that it was stone cold silent.

With a lot of humour we pedaled out of the guesthouse gate and out into traffic. By Mumbai standards, Alleppey was a piece of cake and we breezed along with the masses of scooters, buses, rickshaws, cars, and humanity baking in the sun. My tires were really low on pressure and my seat need to be raised, so we stopped by a bike shop/stall down the road for some help. We managed to pump up the tires (and break his precariously held together bike pump) and raise the seat 3 inches, so we were off to the beach.

There is a definate hierarchy in the traffic flow in India. Buses and transport trucks rule the top tier. They're big and fast and they don't stop. Cars are next, followed loosely by rickshaws, scooters, bikes, and pedestrians. Each has to look out for and yield to the higher tier. Pedestrians take their lives into their own hands. No one will stop for you, you have to look out for and stay out of the way of everyone else. Zoning out is not an option. There are no real crosswalks or any safety feature for navigating the roads. If you played Frogger in your youth and did well, you could be ok walking around India.

Finally jumping a tier and being on a bike, I could tell an instant difference in how much easier it was to get around. You got a tiny bit more respect than if you were on foot. You were more embedded into the symphonic flow, like a red blood cell charting its course through the veins. Even though my seat was about 20cm too low and I risked injury from having a mute bike, it was a joy to get out and expand our exploration of the town. We made it out to the beach and rode down a path to the local fishing village. Kids were estatic to see 2 westerners on bikes and they laughed and yelled "Hello!" and ran to tell their friends about the crazy sight. By now my seat had finally begun to self destruct. There were no bolts holding the plastic seat cover to the metal seat frame and the seat itself started to tilt backwards to an angle dumping me onto the rear wheel. It was almost like riding a low rider, but I'm sure they're more comfortable. One of the kids saw us fiddling with the seat and ran to find the village bike mechanic. He turned out to be this wonderful man, James, who could be the fishing village version of Charles from Wright Brothers. His small garage had an assortment of bikes and tires and a bench of tools and parts. He took one look at my seat and gave a hearty laugh. He immediately found some bolts and began putting the seat back together. He also fixed the seat angle so it wouldn't slip again. While we were waiting, more schoolkids stopped outside his gate to see the funny westerners. I playfully stuck my tongue out at a group of young boys and this put them into hysterics. Any time we said, "Hello", they would act surprised, then delighted and say Hello right back with a huge smile.

James finished fixing my bike, we took some photos, and we were off to another area of the beach. This time, we got surrounded by some very energetic 13 year old girls who decided we would be their new best friends and play in the sea and sand. For a few hours we took lots of photos, played dress up, drew pictures and words in the sand and anything else a bunch of 13 year olds would preoccupy themselves with. We were getting parched in the hot afternoon sun, so we said goodby to Meenu, Preya, and Jessy and took off on our bikes. We stopped by the Indian Coffee House by the beach for some snacks, water, and coffee, then rode back to Alleppey happy from such a fun-filled day thanks to our rusty but trusty Indian bikes.