Bicycle Components Extreme

About 2 1/2 kilometers to the north of us is a tourist town.  The same distance to the south is a Tico village where the local fisherman keeps his shop.  A bus trundles between the two villages every couple of hours until late afternoon.  A limited and relaxed schedule.

Both villages are easily walkable but between the local quad drivers churning up dust clouds and a temperature that is rarely below 30 celcius it's not that much fun walking back from town with a few bags of groceries.  Transport is required.

I pondered purchasing a little motorcycle and selling it off when we head back north.  However, the price of the motorcycle and my determination to get some exercise steered my moral compass in the direction of a pedal bike.

Our new friends Donna and her husband Tito invite us along on their weekly drive into the commercial center about 1/2 hour inland from the beach.  That half hour is not because the town is thirty miles away but because the road is so bad it takes a half hour to negotiate the eight mile trip.

We set off in the 40 year old Land Rover.  It was being taken into the shop for some exhaust repairs.  Climbing a steep hill the exhaust issues reveal themselves as a cloud of blue vapours leaking through the floor boards around the shifter.  "Don't worry", says Tito.  "That only happens when we're going uphill".  Well, most of an inland trip from the coast is going to be uphill.

We stop at the local cycle shop.  The only bike for sale is a relaxed cruiser style job.  That won't cut it for my needs.  My purpose is not to cruise down some hard packed beach showing off my new wheels.  I'm going shopping on pot holed, wash board roads.

Naturally, the appliance / furniture store is selling bikes.  A helpful lad pumps the tires up on my choice of wheels and off I go on a test ride.  It's 35 degrees with the noon sun scorching down on my head.  It's a short test ride.  The gears change, the pedals pedal and the brakes brake.  I'll take it!  This bike even comes with a one year warranty on the frame.  The wheels can fall off, the brakes can fail, the gears can lock up and you'll get, "es lo que es".  It is what it is.

I get it.  This new 15 speed, full suspension bike is costing me about $125.  It's bound to be a piece of s**t.  Es lo que es.  Will it get me to town for a few months?  I'm thinking it might.  The sales clerk supplies a useful piece of advice.  Since this is a new bike, take it to the bike shop up the street so it can be tuned.  Huh?  I have to assume my new "Bicycle Components Extreme" arrived here as a box of parts that someone in the back of the appliance store assembled as best they could.

I wheel my new acquisition back to the bike shop to fuel the local economy.  A couple of cervesas, a nice lunch and grocery shopping fill in the rest of the day.  The bike is wedged into the back of the Land Rover.  Tazy and I pile in with our bags of groceries.  Home we go, free of diesel fumes (it's either because the return leg is downhill or the mechanic actually did fix the exhaust).

Freedom!  I've got wheels.