Bicycle Diaries

Our taxi days are over. Well, sort of.

This past week Tristan and I ventured up the mountain, about 19km from home, on our lovely mountain bikes. The only thing lovely about the trip, aside from the bikes, was knowing that it would all be done hill coming back (no pun intended.) This is the same mountain we walked down a month ago due to lack of cars not for our enjoyment or physical activity. The walk down took us three hours, the hike up was two. Oh, and they were perhaps the longest two hours of my life. In fact, this is in par with the two hours I spent in a hospital for kidney infection. I kept singing the theme to Rocky in my head hoping that it would inspire me but it didn't. I moved on to thinking about Lance Armstrong and wondering how long it would take him to climb it. I figured 15 minutes or so. In passing villages I noticed a huge difference. Not very many of them sang the lovely "yovo-yovo bonsoir" tune. Most of them said "du courage" and so we did. Halfway up, crazy thoughts crept into my mind like, "How much can I pay a local to push me up the mountain?" Then, I saw it. The vision of a stronger, thinner me. So, I pedaled as fast as my size 6 feet could possibly push and in no time we made it. I was so happy. Nineteen kilometers straight up the mountain and I didn't even complain. Well, out loud. :) After my short nap and a huge bowl of rice, I was ready to head downhill. The first part of the mountain is the most dangerous for three reasons: 1. There are very few cars around (the reason for the riding), 2. Without the cars I can't very well ride to the nearest hospital, and 3. The roads are not paved, so it's rocks and potholes. I felt like I was competing at the X Games. The adreline was almost as high as jumping out of a plane, but that only took 60 seconds. This seemed like an eternity. I closed my eyes in some parts because I wanted to see only beautiful visions of home (in the USA) in case I fell and died. Then, I relaxed and made it through two rocky hills. The only thing broken (I think) were the gears which I didn't need on the way down, right? Anyway, short story long, Tristan and I made it and we plan to do it every Tuesday until rainy season. This time we'll walk the bikes down the rocky parts and take pictures so every can see the stronger, thinner, tanner us. :)