Peace of Mind with a Piece of Crap

FREEDOM AT LAST. I bought a bike. The guy with the 100 dollar wheeler did actually replace the chainrings and cog set. The other repairs were minor and he didn't do them, so I argued for another 5% discount. Actually, since I paid in Shilling, the bike ended up at just above 80 dollars, a hundred dollars less than all the other quotes.... Off I went. IT FELT SO GOOD.

I was chasing cars, passing them, blending into traffic and taxi drivers made no fools of themselves by asking "Taxi? Taxi?" I saw a lot of people staring at me - I think even more than when I walk. After all they do see a fair amount of Mzungus - but not usually on bicycles. And now, after already practising vehicular walking I can start vehicular cycling (I will explain a little further down).

The first guy who found out that Bjorn the biker had arrived in town was a driver of one of the larger buses. He made a right turn (remember, driving is on the left) in front of me. I forced him to stop anyway. Dude, even in Tanzania there is a thing called right of way. This is the part of vehicular cycling that is called assertive riding. Bicyclists and sometimes even car drivers, often make the mistake of hesitating, thereby causing confusion for other traffic participants. I have seen many bicyclists in the US and Europe stop pedalling and slow down when entering intersections. This leads other drivers thinking they are stopping. So they may make their turn manoeuvres in spite of the cyclist. It's a catch-22, as those bicyclists are often a bit afraid and insecure in traffic, but through their riding invite drivers to do exactly what the bicyclists are afraid of.

To make one thing clear. Assertive does not mean offensive or aggressive. Make sure your brakes work well, as some car drivers honestly don't see you. For that the 'B' in the ABC Quick Check is important. I always make sure that when the driver doesn't see me when I am riding assertively I can still stop (assertiveness also doesn't mean you have to ride at Lance Armstrong speed - You can do it at 5mph, if you just use a low gear and do at least an imitation of Armstrong's cadence.)

Vehicular cycling is centred around the phrase "Cyclists fare best when they act and are treated as drivers of vehicles." With the same rights also come the same responsibilities for cyclists. If vehicular cycling, ABC Quick Check etc don't mean anything to you you should (if you are based in the US) take a class with a League of American Bicyclists' certified person. If you are in Roseville I can put you in touch with the BikingRoseville folks. Btw, even if you don't ride the class may be valuable. I have gotten feedback from class participants that it has improved their car driving skills. Honestly, did you know that in California sometimes bicyclists can legally ride all the way on the left? No, that's no typo. I am not talking about Tanzania....

Similarly I had already practised vehicular walking. It really bothers me that car drivers honk here and cyclists, peds and the guys who drag those big, heavy wood trailers around (by themselves, w/o horses etc!) jump for safety. This thinking that peds and bicyclists are second class citizens has to stop rather quickly!

Anyway, enough of that – although that was the biggest excitement of the day. After spending all morning in the bank and walking to work I quit early and then bought the bike in the afternoon. There will be an afternoon field trip tomorrow, and even though it is not directly related to my work I may accompany Vicky and check it out.

Speaking of spending a lot of time in the bank. Was it worth it? I paid 50 cents in fees. At the exchange bureau I would have paid roughly 19 dollars. Judge for yourself...

And of course then it's weekend. No blog entries then. Have a good one. Already December by then. I can't believe it.