Biker Chicks

I survived the bike ride. I completed the bike ride. I enjoyed 15% of the bike ride. Details? The ride was classified as "easy". I can enjoy an easy ride. No problem, right? I learned after we began that my definition of easy is not the same as the one used by the bike company. Uh-oh.

The first omen was the nature of the group. There was a 40-ish American couple, young, fit Dutch, German, Australian, and Spanish couples, and us. I had really hoped we'd have a pair of 70-year-old little ladies with us, but we were as close as it got. We had a good 15 years on the rest of the group.

We started out riding on old blacktop. Not perfect, but ok. It got a little gravely and a bit broken-up in areas, but I hung in there. Then Darma, our leader, told us we would be riding for a while on a path in the rice fields, and that we should be careful not to lose our balance. He said the entrance to the path was steep, and we needed to be sure to use both brakes. The van couldn't follow us there. I asked if we would come back the same way, plotting to sit out that part of the ride. "Oh, no, we will not return here," said Darma. "Oh, shit," I thought. I walked my bike down the steep part of the path and joined the group at the bottom as Darma explained the rice irrigation system. I didn't hear a word he said, as I began to silently panic. Do you remember the scene in The Godfather, right before Michael shoots Sollozzo and McCluskey in the Italian restaurant? I'm pretty sure that I was feeling the same way Michael felt at that moment.

I know that this would not be a moment for panic for most of you. But I had just spent several hours walking these type of paths on the bird walk yesterday, and the paths are bumpy, narrow, and have deeply sloping sides with a 2-foot deep water trench on at least one side. I was a little edgy WALKING some of these paths yesterday, and I was scared. I an NOT a great bike-rider. I like to peddle around town or a campground. Nothing hard. When I ride a bike I can easily imagine doing the absolutely wrong thing. At this point, I was certain that things would soon go badly.

Time to ride. I politely let everyone go before me except the poor kid working for the tour company who had the woeful task of following the last biker (me). What a sport. I gamely rode where there was a little width and flatness, but ended up walking the bike through much of the rice paddy. I think my follower was secretly please that I walked, reducing the likelihood that he'd have to haul my sorry ass out of an irrigation ditch.

I caught up with the group and was relieved to get back on a road again. Fortunately, the ride was downhill. I kept up with the pack through the smooth areas, but lagged when the terrain got too rough for me. The last part was smooth and clear of traffic, and I actually enjoyed myself (a little), but panic and tension were the overall emotions of the day. Gail enjoyed the ride, being competent and all. She was very sweet, though, complaining about the riding conditions even though they were really no problem for her at all. Now that's a friend!

The non-riding part of the tour was great. Darma explained Balinese culture, and took us to two different family compounds to see how villagers live. He shared his own life story with us. He grew up in a village only 7 kilometers from Ubud, but didn't visit it until he wad 14 because his family had no transportation. The village had no electricity until 1984. Unbelievable. At the age of 14 he moved to Java to get a high school education. He worked as a servant for 5 years until he graduated. The man who employed him wouldn't let him visit his family at all during those years. It's hard to imagine a child valuing education enough to go through such hardship. He worked in hotels to put himself through college. As the youngest son in his family, it is his responsibility to take care of his parents in their old age. This led to conflicts between his wife and his mother, so he sent his wife to college to become a teacher to give her more independence. What a nice guy. And a good tour guide too.