alright. so pretty much everyone drops their bike at some point. i mean, if you let the thing lean too far one way or another, it's just too heavy to hold up. and down it goes. and it always happens in front of lots of people. doesn't matter if you're indonesian or foreign, it's gonna happen.
i have seen SO many people drop their bikes, and i have prided myself on the fact that i have been driving motorbikes for over a year now, and i have NEVER dropped one, never wrecked one, and never been stopped by police for anything. sparkling record.
until the one fatal error...
i was driving home from bible study, and as i got close to home, it started raining. ugh. rain? in august? dry season? well, that's a different story. i was one street over from my street. i could go to the end of the street, take a right, and drive down that road til i meet up with the end of my street, and take another right to get to my house, essentially making a giant U and backtracking in the process. but it was raining and ick, so i took the short cut.
the short cut is scary. it is a TINY footpath that goes down a ravine, across an even narrower little bridge over a river gorge that is known for being demon possessed (my neighbors say that the spirits that were in my house a year ago came up from this river), and back up the other side of the ravine. the shortcut ends immediately outside the gate to my house.
so due to the rain and me not wanting to be in it any longer than necessary, i shot down the little footpath. i didn't take into account that the path is bricked over. and that all the bricks are mossy. and that mossy bricks on a steep downhill slope turn to ice when rained upon. i realized my mistake immediately upon hitting said downhill slope, scary river gorge below. back brakes: on. front brakes: on. bike: accelerating downhill rapidly.
now would also be a good time to mention that the trail takes a slight left hand turn before meeting with the bridge. and if you don't make the turn, you miss the bridge. and then... well... not pretty.
so i've got both feet on the ground. no good. felt like ice skating. my bike is going too fast to make the turn. but i can't slow down.
dramatic enough?
in retrospect, it was probably only by the grace of God that right as i hit the turn, my back end slid around to the side and the bike dumped. i had my feet down already, so i didn't go down with the bike. it kind of just fell between my legs and laid where it fell.
i was expecting the commotion to bring people out of their houses to see what had happened (indonesians love a good tragedy), but thankfully nobody was there to see. i picked the bike up, pointed it at the bridge, and went across, praying that i'd be able to make it up the other side. it took some work, but my good ole bike made it up the slippery uphill slope.
then i swallowed my pride and asked the guard at the gate to grab a flashlight and check my bike for me. he'd notice dings and scratches that i probably wouldn't. i told him what happened, and after asking about 50 times if I'M ok, he did a thorough once over on the bike and couldn't find a scratch anywhere. so he made sure once more that i was unharmed, reminded me that the roads are slippery when it rains - in indonesian AND english because he's THAT good, and sent me on my way.
won't be making that mistake again.
and my record is now tarnished. boo.
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