Sutorenjaa In Japan

Represent Roaddogs (pt.1)

After living in Sabae for about 2 whole months, things are getting pretty settled and I’m getting used to getting around. I feel alright driving. It’s so convenient to get places and with half the sweat! However, there are a lot of things that are within reasonable walking/ biking distance so, with gas prices being what they are here (about 107 yen per litre) and parking being a nuisance (and I thought Westwood was bad?!), it’s sometimes more convenient not to drive. And this is where my story begins…
Sunday evening (that Monday was a holiday), a group of us Sabae-ans and Takefu crew (Takefu is the city right south of Sabae) decided to go to a local Sabae bar for a few drinks. Now, this little bar is only about a 25 minute bike ride from my apartment so I decided to bike instead of walk or drive (there is also this little law here that you absolutely cannon drink and drive… even if you have 1 drink 3 hours before you leave… so if you drive, you ain’t drinkin).
A few days earlier in the week, I had left my bike at the train station so, on the way to the bar, I had to stop by and pick up my bike. No problem. I had done this a few times before so it should have been a quick and easy stop. I repeat… it SHOULD have been easy. After getting there and realizing that I hadn’t parked my bike in my usual spot, I proceeded to search the lot for my bike. It was during this time that I realized that a grey cruiser bike with a black seat and black bell is not quite as unique as I had thought. 25 minutes later and lower and upper bicycle garages searched, my bike was nowhere to be found. It was a grim situation. However, not to loose track of my priorities, I realized was already 30 minutes late in meeting up with my friends. So what was I to do? Turn around and go home? Get the car and spend more time or money on parking only to not be able to drink at the bar? Of course not!!! That would be silly! Not to mention anti-social and BO-ring! So I did the only logical thing anyone in my situation would… I “borrowed” someone else’s bike. Yes, I understand that perhaps in weighing my options, bike “borrowing” and “drunk” driving should weigh about the same… but again, I was merely borrowing a bike. I had heard somewhere that it happens all the time. Hey, when in Rome…
But before anyone starts with the lectures about moral responsibilities, let me just tell you that I at least took the most BUSTED bike I could find. Seriously folks, this bike was SCREAMING to be taken. The tires were practically flat and the not quite straight, so it swerved as it rode. The basket was mashed in (oh yah, a road warrior) and it had a fantastic ghetto lean when it was on its kickstand. It was a real gem.
So, onward and out I went to the bar, had a few drinks and later a friend and I rode back to our homes. And oh, what a ride back it was. The road was one gigantic obstacle course… complete with uneven pavement, blind guides, random plants/ bushes and gaijin traps. Yes, I was sober enough to ride back… and just enough so that I wasn’t all over the street (I did have enough common sense to ride on the sidewalk rather than the streets… which come to think of it, might have been a wiser choice considering NO ONE was on the road at that hour). So, the slight inebriation compounded with my unsteady, busted bike and obstacle course of a sidewalk did not make it the smoothest ride back. I eventually found my self challenged by a rail/fence that suddenly appeared to my left. My bike, being the road warrior it was, seemed compelled to take on this battle, unable to turn away, despite my best drunken efforts to turn the handles. So, into the battle (aka rail) I went. Sadly, we lost (the rail had refused to budge… curse you rail, and your concrete anchoring!!!) and I came out with a bruised left knee. The rest of the ride was pretty much “pedal, ouch, pedal, ouch”… etc. In the end, despite my friend’s pleas to keep it as a “memento”, I returned the bike and limped home, representin’ fo my true “roaddoggs”.

posted by KidBach @ 11:40 AM