When I met Frank Yang at English corner one of his classmates was
riding his bike in sloppy figure eights nearby. After the bike was
free I went to take a look at it. I'd heard about the Other Cyclist
from the other foreigners but they weren't biker sorts and didn't
really give me any useful information.
Acceptable.
Okay, better than acceptable.
Even if it was running less than half the cost of the cheaper of my
two bikes it was still at least twice the price of the next most
expensive bike in town.
I'd been hoping that it was going to be a really good bike and that
I'd really found a real riding buddy and was in fact kind of
disappointed to discover that he was not only a student who not only
was a relatively new cyclist but that his bike was also a mere 1600rmb
worth of Giant mountain bike.
And I let it show.
So he challenged me to a race.
Mano il mano to the top of Ertouling.
"I can do it in thirty minutes," he told me, confidently.
I'd just done it in a very acceptable fifty two minutes. I took a
long look at this student, up and down, took a long look at his bike,
and told him flat out that he was either a liar or had a broken watch.
Mere days before when teasing me about my fifty two minutes the bike
shop manager told me that he'd done it in thirty minutes. At 22 Frank
has age on his side but the bike shop manager has a race bike and
fifteen years of working in a bike shop on his side.
I did not believe in thirty minutes. Could not believe in it.
Thirty minutes was not bragging. Thirty minutes was impossible.
Mano il mano to the top of Ertouling. I'll see you on Wednesday.
Wednesday came. We met as competitors. There was no audience to
speak of. Just me, him, Langford as judge, and a random classmate.
We started from the gas station.
Langford counted down and we started off together, me on my road bike
with the FSA triple (53, 39, 30) and mountain bike cassette (11-28),
him on his stock mountain bike, Langford in his jeep. I was cool and
confident. There would be no need to try real hard. Just keep up
with him and when we get near the top sprint to win. Easy play.
We hadn't even been going for a minute when he passed me.
I kept pushing hard certain that he'd tire himself out soon enough and
I'd catch up again.
But, although, at forty six minutes I would make my best time ever I
never caught up. His watch wasn't broken and he wasn't a liar. He
did the impossible. He did it in thirty minutes.
Two days later I helped Frank sign up for his first real race.
That race was this past weekend. A mere 3.2 kilometers but really
really steep.
Frank took fifth for the province, ten seconds off fourth place, and
within two minutes of first place. First place has a 50,000rmb carbon
wonder race bike with a 12,000rmb wheelset. The only reason first
place isn't a professional racer because his mother and father didn't
like the idea when one of the Chinese teams tried to recruit him.
Frank and I were among the people who decided to ride home from the
race. Only 130km. With no odometer to look at he had no way of
knowing we were going over 45kph on one of the occasions that he got
dropped. In fact, he did a better job of staying with the front
riders than I did. On his mountain bike. With platform pedals.
Because I've been upgrading my road bike I had a bunch of bits and
bobs and things that I wasn't using but which really weren't worth the
effort of trying to sell. Handlebars, front and rear derailleurs,
chainring, bottom bracket, and a pair of wheels. We determined that
he had up to 600rmb that he could spend on bike stuff and I asked my
favorite mechanic for help.
Secondhand Xidesheng frame and fork that already had stem, front,
derailleur and brakes - 200rmb.
Trade my Shimano SIS front derailleur for a saddle.
Downtube shifters, brake levers, seat post, cables, 30rmb tires and
10rmb tubes, we're almost done here ...
At which point the bike shop owner realized for whom the bike was
being built.
At which point the process had to begin all over again.
This boy was not going to ride a bike with a Xidesheng frame.
Unacceptable. Not going to happen. She wouldn't allow it. If it had
to be a secondhand bike so be it. If it had to be part layaway and
part gift so be it. If the price had to come out of future prize
money so be it. If he had to work at the shop part time to make up
the difference so be it. But he wasn't going to ride a Xidesheng
bike.
It was _not_ allowed. Understand?
Frank now has his first Giant jersey, his first pair of Giant bike
shorts, an odometer, and a Giant race bike. Nothing extra special.
The original parts were worn out and replaced. Then the original
owner got a better frame and cannibalized everything worth keeping.
His new bike has secondhand Sora brifters, new Sora derailleurs, new
wheels with a cassette for mountains, new saddle, new tires... 600rmb
total.
He and I had determined that he had up to 600rmb that he could spend
on a new bike. So the new bike cost 600rmb. Exactly 600rmb. Even
when the price tag still stuck to the front hub of the wheelset says
480rmb his bike cost 600rmb because that is how much he had to spend
on a new bike.
-M