Bike Town

I became a bike mechanic today! OK, not really, but I did assemble 5 or 6 bikes.

The first stage of my Senegal adventure is devoted to Bike Town Africa, a program by Bicycling Magazine and the Rodale Institute that gives bicycles to health care workers. So the last two days have been spent with four American bike enthusiasts, accompanied by three Senegalese bike enthusiasts, and one Senegalese public health worker.

We started out about 9:00 this morning. I got a quick lesson in putting together the parts of the bike and got to work. Each bike comes in a big box, and there aren't that many steps to putting it together--it's a lot like buying furniture at Ikea. It isn't complicated, but lifting bikes and tightening bolts and screws and stuff is somewhat physical work. That, combined with the rather warm weather, had me completely drenched in sweat in no time.

We were assisted by a legion of kids who seem to have appeared out of nowhere, as they do in this kind of circumstance. My personal assistant was named Asef. We didn't talk much--he spoke enough French to tell me his name when asked, but I don't think he spoke much more. We managed to communicate though, and he put up with my lack of mechanical aptitude quite well.

I left for a while during the morning to meet with a local health ministry official. He and I had more to say to each other than Asef and I did, but not much more.

I ducked out of the afternoon bike assembly to get some work done back at the hotel. I'm sure the bike guys think I'm a slacker. I'm working on not worrying too much about what they--or Asef--think of me.