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Friday, January 21, 2011

From Being Hit by a Car to Flying Off Bikes, It Was an Adventure Part 2

From Being Hit by a Car to Flying Off Bikes, It Was an Adventure Part 2
Jenny and I had woken up early for our second day of biking. We
decided that we would go over Le Mafa pass that day, but thought that
we would stop at a beach resort to spend the night. We joked about
the possibility of making it all the way to Jenny's village, but
didn't think we would make it.
We left early, right as the sun was rising, and headed west. We
stopped along the way for a coffee break in the beginning. We rode
past Katie's village, then Cassie's, then Jenny C, then Lindsey and
Sam's village. When we were in Sam's village we were riding near the
side of the road and a car came by…
The car was driving really slow as it passed me. I was happy that the
two of us were practically riding on the grass because something about
the car made me suspicious. The car kept going and hit Jenny. The
car hit her handlebars and knocked her down. The driver immediately
drove off. Then about 100 yards in front of us stopped to talk to
someone, and turned around. By the time the car had come back, Jenny
had gotten up and dusted herself off. Jenny's sunglasses had flown
off, but happily had not broken. The driver asked if she was okay as
he kept driving. She was, and just shot a well deserved nasty look as
he passed.
By 9:00, we had reached the base of Le Mafa Pass. This was the
section of the road we knew would be the worst of the day and we were
happy to be getting it over and done with early. We looked up at the
mountains, and it was the most gorgeous site I had ever seen. The
clouds were passing by making a dazzling location. Thankfully, those
clouds took away the sun, and it started to pour on us. (We had
checked on the weather the previous day, and it was supposed to be
completely sunny for the entire day.) We continued up the mountain
slowly.
Finally we reached the scenic spot towards the top of the mountain as
the sun came out. Jenny got excited because she thought it was all
downhill after that. I however knew the truth from running Le Mafa
Pass in the relay race last August. We enjoyed a nice snack at the
site, as we were content with our accomplishments so far. We took out
the little map, and smiled at our success for the day. A car turned
into the scenic site, and it was someone I knew. He was dropping some
tourists off at a resort, but wished us luck on our ride before going.
We continued uphill, wondering when the mountain would end. I kept
pointing to the cell phone tower nearby saying that is where I thought
we had to go to, and Jenny kept hoping it wasn't going to be that
high. We ended up going almost to the top of "Digi Mountain"(our new
name for it, and any other hill with a cell phone tower on it).
Finally, we had reached the top. There was a woman working on her
gardening. She yelled at her dog to make sure he didn't go after us.
but, the dog was smart. He went around the woman like he was heading
home, and then ran after Jenny. She jumped off her bike without delay
and put the bike in between herself and the dog. The woman was able
to get the dog off of her shortly after.
Now, it was all downhill, and I was looking forward to it. I was
enjoying the nice cool breeze that you get from going downhill braking
sporadically, to not go too fast down Richardson Road. The problem
with roads in Upolu, that I forgot, were the speed bumps. (There was
also a massive pothole problem.) The speed bumps come out of nowhere
and just attack. You think that they will be the nice long bumps that
don't hurt, like the ones in Savai'i, and they come out of nowhere as
a mini rollercoaster.
I was going down fast, not super fast, but faster than I probably
should have been going. I saw the speed bump and tried braking for
it. I wasn't sure what exactly happened, but just felt throbbing pain
in my toe. I quickly slowed my bike down so I could do a "mini crash"
to get off my bike quickly and fix my toe.
Jenny was behind me, and saw everything. She had some laughs, before
she realized I was hurt. What she saw was me fly completely off my
bike, but since I was holding onto the handlebars, I was able to land
back on it.
It was only a few hours into the ride, and already Jenny had gotten
hit by a car and chased by dogs and I flew off my bike. We weren't
sure what we were in store for next.

1 comment:

  1. Oh that was quite an adventure of a ride, albeit the mishaps. Did the car intentionally hit Jenny, or was he just tripping or something? Geez, he ought to be taught a hard lesson for that. In the event it happens to anyone of you again and got hurt, then you may want to report it to the police. Make these reckless drivers pay for the injuries and all. I hope that the next biking days you had went smoothly.

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