Cycle stories, I had to laugh...

The wind blew through my hair, a cool sea breeze, my green eyes squinted riding directly into the low morning sun. My head was filled with the remnants of the previous night, arrack and beers.

I slowly cycled towards the beach when I was passed by a guy with half a sack of rice balancing precariously behind him, I shrugged another day another time.

"Faster" a younger lad yelled as he sped past me, 'I'm not having that' I thought and I tucked in behind him into his slip stream and coasted, he smiled back seeing there. We rounded the mosque and Weligama bay appeared back in view, crystal clear blue water and a golden shoreline. The road started to gradually descend, banking to the right. I made my move and peddled Tago hard and came up along side him. He noticed and counted with a strong surge, I had him by a wheel when we passed 'rice man'. Then disaster struck, click-clack, we both heard it,  his smile faded at the dreaded sound, the sound of the chain jumping off the cog, his legs went round again but nothing happened. His race was over, he drifted to the side and watched me pull away. I was happy because my energy was nearly spent, arrack attack.


I created some space between us and slowed, free wheeling. All of a sudden, whoosiiii, a blurred motion, caught in the corner of my eye, 'no' I thought, someone was passing, passing fast, he couldn't have, not that quick.

To my surprise it was 'rice man', his skinny legs pumped hard, determined he gave it everything he had, the rice adding the extra weight.

I let out a bellowing laugh as I watched him pass, with admiration, sitting straight up, the tortoise had won again. He left me in his wake, no catching him. I could almost picture the broad smile on his face when he told his friends about the day he beat 'the white monkey' down Galle road.

This reminded me while writing of the time Fanie, i think his name was, got a brand new bicycle, an upright coaster, not like mine a BMX, Raleigh 'Burner', maybe he had gears, not sure.

Anyway, I'm peddling to school, early morning maybe 6 or 7am. We had this steep hill in town, possibly a 45 degree gradient, stop sign and T-junction at the bottom, at the age of 10 or 11 it was quiet terrifying. I had just started down it when Fanie, sitting up right higher than mighty, comes peddling past, he was a year younger I think, I'm breaking with my peddle breaks, I know what's coming, he leaves me behind.

At the bottom of the hill, a busy road took residents to work, we would turn right and head over the bridge, if you turned left you went back the long way around our small town, straight ahead was just thick African bush, winter was approaching. I watched Fanie collect speed, his new bike glistened in the morning sun as he left me behind. The space between us kept increasing,  I broke again, then glided. People do 60km/ph, some 100, crazy stuff, along the road below, depending how late for work they were.

Still Fanie collects more speed, the gap increases, 'when is he going to break' I thought to myself. I'm sure his eyes were shut as his head did not even turn to look, he dissected the road below, he just kept facing straight ahead as the bush approached. By some miracle no cars hit him, that would have been my first witnessed fatality, he raced directly into the bush. I watched him bounce up and down like a yo-yo, don't know what he hit, dead branches maybe, then he disappeared.

As I approached the bottom stop sign, two cars flew by in opposite directions, oblivious to Fanie's daredevil stunt. Then I see him, dragging his new bike from the bush, fuming, almost in tears, but luckily no real damage to him or the bike.

Turns out that being a Monday morning, following the weekend and a few beers, Fanie's father had forgot to enable his breaks properly. Leaving his son, helplessly stranded racing down possibly the 2nd scariest  road in own town, and surviving and leaving me this great tale to tell.

The picture is of a guy transporting a tuna I could not get one while racing :-) but the sack of rice sat in the same place on the bike.