The China Teaching Web

The pedals fell off my brand new bicycle when I rode it home on Monday evening. My friends told me it was because I had “stood up” on the pedals while going up a hill. I had assumed that standing up was a normal action to take when riding on a bike. Apparently, you shouldn’t stand up on bikes that cost 200 RMB which is exactly how much I paid for the shiny blue vehicle. The man who sold me the bike gladly replaced the pedals for free. That was nice of him but considering that he put another pair of the same cheap pedals back on the bike, I wasn’t too optimistic about riding my bike to work later in the day. I did my best to keep my butt on the bike as I pedaled to my training center. Even as I sat, I could feel the pedals straining under the pressure of my feet; I was sure that they were going to crack and fall off again. Somehow, I made it to work and parked my bike with a large group of bikes in nearby my place of work. I carefully placed the lock on the back tire of the bike and clicked the metal arm into locking position. I then headed up to work assuming that my new bike would wait for me.

I came out a few hours later to buy dinner. As soon as I stepped out the door, I knew something was wrong. It looked like a small whirlwind had passed through the row of bikes. Bicycles were all over the place. Some bikes were were flat on the ground while others were sloppily propped up against each other. I imagined that their owners would be very annoyed when they came out from shopping. But at least they would still have bikes; mine had completely disappeared. I spent the next ten minutes frantically searching amongst the ’survivors’ but with no luck. Apparently, someone must have driven by with a truck, grabbed a bunch of bikes, and taken off. What is frustrating is, there were probably at least 10 people who witnessed it happen; but being a ‘good samaritan’ can be dangerous in China.

Did I call the police? No. I tried that last time when my apartment was broken into. Sure,  detectives and fingerprint technicians crammed into my apartment and made  abig show, but I never heard from them again. Besides, in my city, the police have much bigger problems than chasing down stolen bicycles. I knew that my bicycle was gone; gone forever. At least I didn’t opt for a more expensive bike. It’s never fun to lose money but 200 RMB is nothing to cry over. Nevertheless, everytime I walk by a supermarket now, I take a quick glance at the bikes just in case mine happens to be sitting there. I’m not sure what’d I do if I did see my bike again, but for now, I’ll just have to travel on foot. That’s not so bad; I can get some exercise and it’s probably safer too.