Turns out I did not use my bike as much as I intended to… On the day before last in Ngaramtoni, I decided to go for a long bike ride around the village. As I was coming back home, I was going downhill at a decent speed. A young girl with a bucket of water on her head ahead of me got scared of my bike, lost balance and crashed right in front of me, blocking my path. I hit the brakes and was reminded once more about a strange thing about English bikes in general; the back brake is on the left side. I flipped over my bike and landed butt first on her split bucket of water. (Almost two weeks later, I have a colourful bruised thigh.) The front wheel of the bike was bent in the process, but fortunately I was next to home and rolled my bike into the compound. The next day, I took my bike out again with the intention of selling it in Arusha to minimize my lost. The bent wheel rubbed on the front brakes quite badly so I decided to remove the front brakes from the bike to avoid the rubbing and unavoidable blow-out. The ride back to Arusha is 90% down-hill on a crater-like road. I was careful not to bend the front wheel completely out of shape and managed to Arusha without any further problems. I visited every bicycle shop in town and was not offered more than U$50 for it. I eventually went back to the shop I purchased it, and reluctantly sold it for U$70, after paying U$150 for it two months ago. I guess you win some and lose some.
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