On a recent visit to Kenya, I found myself with a bit of down time as my wife visited family and conducted other obligatory tasks during our all too infrequent and brief visits to her homeland. After addressing a few questions and concerns from her family members, I ventured out into the Kangemi area outside of Nairobi where we were staying with my wife’s sister. Soon, I came upon Pacs Cycles, a local bicycle repair and rental business. Although cycling of any type was not on our itinerary, I was compelled to take advantage of the opportunity to ride a bike. Having been a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tanzania many years ago, and being married to a Kenyan for 20+ years and counting, I am fairly proficient in the Swahili language (and most Kenyans are very proficient in English). After a few questions from Pac himself, as the entire situation (i.e., a Swahili speaking mzungu inquiring as to how to rent a bicycle from a local repair shop) is a bit out of the ordinary, I arranged to ‘hire’ (in local speak) one of the bicycles to spend the afternoon exploring the area. Ironically, the bike Pac hand picked for my excursion was a classic Trek 820 Antelope (26″ wheels), which was the standard Peace Corps issue mountain bike back in the day, so the cosmic bike connection, or simple serendipity, added to the experience. For reference, my Peace Corps issue Trek 820 was black and outfitted with a heavy duty rear rack and a ‘reverse’ braking setup from the previous volunteer (i.e., front brake lever on right side of handlebar, rear brake lever on left side). Since the setup, while opposite of normal setup in the US, was functional, and parts such as cables were scarce, I left the configuration in place.
While functional, Pac’s Trek 820 was showing its age and general condition, with no cable for the front derailleur, which may or may not have worked otherwise, decent tires, and brakes that somewhat slowed your momentum. But I figured, I ride a 1x on my current MTB setup at home, I will be mostly ‘on-road’, and I am an experienced cyclist, so I can manage. Which I did, having the truly unique outing I was seeking, and making a connection through cycling in the process. Pac and I connected through WhatsApp and I plan to send him a few basic bicycle repair bits and pieces (cables, tubes, patch kits, spokes, tools, etc.) to assist in maintaining his fleet of bikes that sustain his small business and spreading the joy of cycling.
adventureECO Cycling 