Self Introduction
10-27-01, 06:30 AM
#1
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Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Arusha, Tanzania
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Self Introduction
I biked in the 70's (Peugeot PX10e) and then becuase of moving to Tanzania I stopped. The few tarred roads in Tanzania were falling apart and riding Indian one speeds on dirt roads was no fun and I got punctures every 15 minutes. Mtn bikes weren't being produced to my knowledge at the time.
(I went to Arusha Tanzania in 1977 to visit my parents and stayed on after they left. I then went broke/destitute trying to farm. Got married, setup an ISP, and survived. Mzungu = white man)
My son came to live in 1995 with a cheap Schwinn mtn bike to commute to school. I then had to bully him to use it on the weekends. I couldn't afford/justify a toy for myself at that time.
Someone gave me a mtn bike around 1996 (a saint?) and I started commuting to work. I saved enough money to justify buying a better one and so on. Now I have bikes to choose from. The wife rolls her eyes with each purchase. (Well, I gave her one!)
As a by product I got in shape after years of neglect. The World Bank fixed some roads, so when a UN worker was leaving I got a road bike with Campy stuff for $500. Way cool fun. The first ride with some guys I puked on the way out and limped home. No more.
I visited family in Washington State USA this year and timed it with RAMROD and had a gas. Easier than some training rides I did. Our roads are ROUGH and my buddies and I seldom stop (even if there is a giraffe to look at).
I **NEED** these type of forums as I have to repair my own bikes and figure out how to train and eat. Ordering spares is a major pain. Payment overseas, right part, shipping, and customs.
We used to have 1 road race per year in Arusha but everything has fallen through the past two years. I road ride regularly with Shabani who makes his living repairing tyre puncures at a gas station and is really tough.
What I really want to do is get on my mtn bike with panniers and kevlar tyres and go down thedirt track and when i get to the next track decidie which way to go.
As you can see from this long post I don't have many bikers to talk bicycling with. Bicycles are for poor people . Really poor people walk.
Erik aka "Mzungu"
(I went to Arusha Tanzania in 1977 to visit my parents and stayed on after they left. I then went broke/destitute trying to farm. Got married, setup an ISP, and survived. Mzungu = white man)
My son came to live in 1995 with a cheap Schwinn mtn bike to commute to school. I then had to bully him to use it on the weekends. I couldn't afford/justify a toy for myself at that time.
Someone gave me a mtn bike around 1996 (a saint?) and I started commuting to work. I saved enough money to justify buying a better one and so on. Now I have bikes to choose from. The wife rolls her eyes with each purchase. (Well, I gave her one!)
As a by product I got in shape after years of neglect. The World Bank fixed some roads, so when a UN worker was leaving I got a road bike with Campy stuff for $500. Way cool fun. The first ride with some guys I puked on the way out and limped home. No more.
I visited family in Washington State USA this year and timed it with RAMROD and had a gas. Easier than some training rides I did. Our roads are ROUGH and my buddies and I seldom stop (even if there is a giraffe to look at).
I **NEED** these type of forums as I have to repair my own bikes and figure out how to train and eat. Ordering spares is a major pain. Payment overseas, right part, shipping, and customs.
We used to have 1 road race per year in Arusha but everything has fallen through the past two years. I road ride regularly with Shabani who makes his living repairing tyre puncures at a gas station and is really tough.
What I really want to do is get on my mtn bike with panniers and kevlar tyres and go down thedirt track and when i get to the next track decidie which way to go.
As you can see from this long post I don't have many bikers to talk bicycling with. Bicycles are for poor people . Really poor people walk.
Erik aka "Mzungu"
10-27-01, 03:07 PM
#2
Every lane is a bike lane
Hey, welcome to the forums. I don't think we've ever had anyone from that part of the world before.
__________________
I am clinically insane. I am proud of it.
That is all.
I am clinically insane. I am proud of it.
That is all.
