Samstag Flohmarkt: I bought a bike!

Saturday. 12.4.14

Yesterday I told myself to be productive. Get to school early, sketch before class, attend sketch class, and then work on the design classes. I redrew things on plain paper because my mini notebook has lines and isn’t good for scanning. The size and portability of the notebook is nice, but using the sketches from it is tough. I’d have to scan it all and edit the images in Photoshop. I want to limit the editing time because I know how much time it’s going to take later. I thought I’d make good progress on choosing directions for Bionics and Spaces, but it never feels like progress is made. I was invited to play games with Aniol, Aina, and Joni, but I wasn’t in the mood. I also told them I wanted to get work done and get to bed early. I didn’t get as much work done as I thought, and I ended up going to be just after midnight. Yay, such a liar.

Today I went to the Flomarkt here in Darmstadt. Flomarkt is German for flea market. I wanted to find a bike, and I did. A few people were selling bikes so I went back and forth asking for prices and going over chains, tires, shifters, lights. One couple selling bikes spoke way too fast, and not a stitch of English. I asked the guy a few times how much the bike costs, and I couldn’t understand him. The bikes I’m looking at are for commuting and have simple relaxed geometry. They’re old too. I saw a few promising bikes, but my brain goes blank when I try to really analyze them. I forget how much each one costs. I forget which one looks to be in better condition. I know bikes, but I have the worst time making decisions on which one to buy. Or to buy one at all. A nice man told me he’d sell me one for 40€ that was OK. Back and forth, back and forth. I lapped the flea market again to think about it and look at the other ones again. When he offered me another one for only 30€ I got excited. That’s cheap. I took this bike for a spin to check the gears, and feel it out. It’s comfortable, simple, and needs a little work. Aber das ist billig (But it’s cheap.) I shook the man’s hand and made the deal. I just bought a bike for 30€.

It feels so good to be pedaling a bike again. It’s been too long. The couple days of riding Elisabeth’s bike in Berlin was amazing, but I’ve been here for over 1 month without a bike. I rode it home and went over it again. I added air to the tires, cut off the bike lock that had no key, and adjusted the angle of the brake lever. Once I added air to the rear tire, the added pressure caused the wheel to shift a bit and rub against the fender. A quick bit of “encouragement” from a small wrench fixed that problem.

I brought Dimi’s bike pump over to Sam’s to pump up the tires of a bike that had been laying around. We weren’t sure how it would ride, but once we saw that it held pressure in the tires we hit the street. We rode to Rosenhöhe and out for a lap around the fields. My bike was running fine. Not all the gears work, but it’s good enough for me. Some new cables and housing should fix that. Little did I know that later the deteriorating cable housing would cause me to eat shit and donate some skin and blood to the sidewalk.

Yes. I crashed and burned. I was headed to Sam’s party and went down like a clown. I had my busted bag over my shoulder and rode with one hand to keep it from slapping against my leg. I had just passed a group of people on bikes and was pedaling up the hill with some good effort. The cable housing came loose and was dangling. I noticed, but thought I would fix it when I stopped at the top or at the next red light. Bad idea. The loose cable caught my left pedal and stopped my food mid stroke. The sudden stop in motion cause me to lose control, which was also made possible by my holding on with only one hand. I swerved a bit, slow enough that I could see it coming. I knew I was going down, but tried to save it by going down gently. I swerved toward the grass on my right, but didn’t make it. I went down and slammed my right knee into the pavement. FUCK! Stupid bike. Stupid me for not acknowledging the danger of having a lose cable. Yep, blood had been drawn. Yep, my knee hurts.

I just let my bike lay there in the grass as I did the mental injury check. How bad does it hurt? Can I move it? What else hurts? Anything broken? Relax, it’s not that bad. I felt like an idiot, and the group I had just passed saw the whole thing. After standing there for a couple minutes, a couple people from the other group came over to check on me. They offered help, and asked if I was ok.

“Yes, I’m ok. The lose cable caught my pedal and sent me out of control. I’m bleeding, but I’m fine.”

“We saw you go down. Can we help you?”

“Do you have a napkin or anything?”

They guy opened his backpack and gave me a pack of mini tissues. I thanked them, and again reassured them that I was ok. I rinsed my knee with water from my bottle and wiped it up with the tissues. It was dark so I couldn’t see much, but I knew it wasn’t too bad; only two small patches of road rash. It does hurt though, but only about a 2 on a 1 – 10 scale.  Fucking bike. Fucking cheap piece of shit. Now I’m noticing the issues with the cables up front. I’ll definitely get this fixed/replaced.

I went to Sam’s party anyway. I was early because parties don’t start at 9. They start at 11 and I was there at around 9. I mingled for a bit. More like chatted with Sam and Lauren. I did talk with a girl a bit about school, living in Shanghai, and the punk scene in China. I snacked on some food, then left. I wasn’t in the mood to party, and blood was beginning to stain my shorts. Did I wuss out? Probably a bit, but I welcomed the excuse to leave. Should I have stayed and bandaged myself up so I could be social and meet some new people? Yes, but I don’t care anymore. I just want to go home. So I did.