Today didn’t go as planned (an Adventure is born)

February 21, 2008 | Filed Under Bicycling, Travel 

I was planning on staying home today, resting my foot, and catching up on some computer time. I needed my morning pastry fix, so I set out to go to the shop on the corner. I was walking out and I left the door in the apt building ajar, as the locks are a pain in the butt. Nah, don’t be lazy, pull the door shut . . .

When I came back in I realized I had picked up the wrong set of keys, and only had the key to the building, not the apartment. LOCKED OUT . . . ! I only had 2.55 Euro, no train ticket, no passport, and I didn’t know Debby’s cell or where she worked. I had a whole day to kill and no where to go . . .

I walked around for a while trying to think of a plan. I decided to try and pick the lock. How hard could it be? Look at these silly old keys! So I made the paper clip key you see above and mucked around for a half an hour without luck.  I really thought that the plan was crazy enough to work.  Comparing the one I made to the actual, I even got the size pretty close from memory.  Oh well, I’m not as MacGyver as I thought.

Then I got the idea to try and ‘temporarily borrow’ a broken down old bike to ride to Debby’s school and get the keys, since I really didn’t want to walk much on my ailing foot. The Germans are really anal about locking their bikes up so I couldn’t find one, not even a little kids bike. Then I remembered the apartment courtyard. I went into the center courtyard between the buildings where the locals keep their bikes; I had a key to get in there. I finally found one that wasn’t locked, it was old, rusty, and had two flats. I asked the local bunny rabbit if I could borrow the bike for a couple hours. He didn’t answer me because he’s a rabbit, but he let me pet him which I took as a sign of good karma.

I got some directions to the nearest bike shop and pumped up the tires. The mechanic pointed out the badly blown out sidewall of the tire, where the tube was clearly visible. I told him that I knew, but I didn’t have any money to pay to fix it. Then I asked him if he could Google me directions to Debby’s school, which I knew the name because it was American; JFK Schule. He told me that it was 6 miles each way. OK, write down some directions of a scrap of paper and here I go!

I made it there no problem; it was actually a pretty straight shot. Boy was Debby surprised to see me. I got the house keys and 1.25 more Euro that she had on her and headed back towards home and to get some lunch. I only made it about a half mile before I heard a thumping. Yup, the tube was bulging out of the sidewall, and she was going to blow! I snapped a quick pic of it, as it was pretty impressive. Ten seconds later it blew; right in the middle of a town square!

So now I had to decide; do I ride it home on the flat and pray that I make it, try and get it fixed for 3.75 Euro, or ditch the bike completely (thereby not returning it and receiving bad bike juju) and have Debby borrow money to take the train?  I didn’t want to risk pissing off the rabbit so the third option was out.  I did see a bike shop on the way in, maybe they’d fix it for whatever money I had with a big ol’ American Sob Story. But then I wouldn’t have any money for lunch . . .

Screw that! I bought my first Currywurst! It was some kind of battered brat that was sprinkled with curry powder mix and some ketchup-like sauce. It was REALLY GOOD!

So I just rode the flat the 6 miles back to the house. Honestly it wasn’t that bad. I just leaned back as much as I could and rocked out to the tunes and got a good little workout and really didn’t go that much slower than when it had air in it. If it was the back tire, then I would have been in trouble.

So in the end I’m pretty happy that I got locked out, as it made for an entertaining day out and about.  I met the rabbit, ate some Currywurst, and got a decent bike ride through the suburbs of Berlin.

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