Mountain Biker

As previously mentioned, this new bicycle has been providing enough entertainment for an entire blog. So, prepare yourself for some bike entries.

Ferry transport! 

This Sunday, I went for the “Sunday Ride” with a bike company in District 7 called Saigon Cycles. I’d planned on going on this ride weeks ago but hadn’t worked up the courage to show up solo until I realized that I couldn’t convince anyone to go with me so I’d better suck it up J I left my apartment at 5:30am, rode the 8K from my house to district 7, and met up with the group of cyclists. In our group, we had three Dutchmen, two Aussies, two Kiwis, and three Americans; already awesome. We departed for the ride as the rain began to fall and completely soak all of our belongings. We rode out of the city until we stopped for a quick noodle soup meal and dry-off. Not long after we hit the road again, we came across a river. How does one get across a river with a bike? A “ferry.” This ferry also happened to be the form of transportation for about 75 Vietnamese school children (yes, Vietnamese kids go to school at 7am on Sundays). The boat ride only last about 5 minutes and we were on our way again…

Where we went next was the Vietnam I have been longing to find. The Vietnam where people work in the rice paddies wearing leaf hats. The Vietnam where children come running out of their houses to say hello to the white people riding by. The Vietnam where your thoughts are not interrupted by the sounds of motorbikes and horns, and your breath is taken away by beauty rather than exhaust. The Vietnam where you have to slow down (to concentrate on not falling in the mud, yes, but also) just to look at everything around you. Where you feel so happy you could SHOUT! Where you don’t care how much mud is being caked all over you and your belongings. Where you stop worrying about, well, everything. I was deeply moved by this ride and hope it is only the beginning of my exploration.

The crew in the rice paddies

what are you talking about? i'm not tired! ;)

Now, it wasn’t all happy-go-lucky. There is a slight chance that I was maybe the slowest rider out there, perhaps. I thought at first I was doing fine until I realized people take turns “bringing up the rear.” Rear = me. But, everyone seemed pretty surprised when I admitted this was my first ride… ever. I haven’t owned a bike since 4^th grade and certainly had never ridden it more than to a neighbor’s house. Another gentlemen echoed that, “there are two ways to ride a bike: riding it fast, or looking good… so you’ve got one of them covered!” Most women may have taken this as a compliment, but of course my competitive nature was extremely offended. I’ve decided that I now must do everything possible to keep up with that group. Everyone said I needed to get gloves, bike shorts, a better water bottle, yadda, yadda, yadda. So maybe I was a little unprepared for a 68K ride but I’m still glad I went and look forward to more rides to come.