Rusty but not so trusty

Last Wednesday night my faithful friends (Alex – A girl from Tulsa and Lawrence from Nuremberg) decided that the cafeteria was not for us. So we mounted our faithful and trusty steeds and headed south to Wodaokou. The ride down was uneventful and refreshing. Our arrival at Wodaokou and the sushi that followed were just what the doctor had ordered. After another hour or so of wandering I decided to head back to the dorms solo. This was the beginning of major trouble for me.

To preface the next part of this tale I must inform the reader what my bicycle looks like. Its big…probably the largest bike they sell in China but it is old. When I say old I don’t mean a few months or years. I would think that this bike is most likely half of my age (20 years). It was covered in rust and dirt when I bought it but it still exuded strength. Or so I thought it did.

The ride home…

I am lucky that I did not die that night. While riding back up a dark street on campus I noticed that something wasn’t working right. With every down stroke on the left pedal a slipping motion occurred. At first I thought that perhaps it was just my shoes slipping on the pedal....boy was I wrong. I continued down the darkened road closing the distance to my dorm when I noticed a light from behind. Relief washed over me when I realized that the lights were the bright blue of a newer model car. Relief that I wasn’t going to be forced to the curb by a taxi (I think it’s a sport for them). As the car, which I had identified as an Audi A6 started to pass me I noticed something was going very wrong.

The left pedal dropped away on a down stroke. Yep dropped right off the side of the bike and into the street. Don’t worry its not essential to the operation of the bicycle…oh wait it is. Now I was left with one pedal and two cars on the left side of me. Yes the Audi decided that he needed to pass me while another car was going the opposite way. One thing that you learn early in every physics class is about inertia and momentum. With out the left pedal I was left with a leg creating unequal force. Naturally the bike translated this unequal force in to a wobble. Now I am not a small person by an use of the word. So my legs generate quite a large amount of work/force with each stroke. So a wobble for me is something short of hurricane.

So I am left wobbling between two passing cars and the curb in near pitch black conditions. It was so fun to say the least because as I started to wobble the Audi decided that he was a part-time taxi driver. Remember what I said about the taxi driver sport (driving bicycles to the curb) well I was about to do that dance not with a $15,000 Hyundai but with a $90,000 Audi. The honking and swerving on both of our parts lasted a second if that…but it was one of those times that seems to drag by.

I made a successful stop and recovery of my missing left pedal. Using my vast skill set I properly re-placed the pedal with a swift kick from the vertical axis. With it somewhat secured I made the rest of the journey home uneventfully. Sadly trusty rusty (the nickname for my bike) is no longer trusty but don’t worry she is still rusty.