MOTORCYCLES

Today was my first time riding a motorcycle the 2 hours from Oecusse to Passabe. It was dramatic. One of the technicians rode with me as my experience riding a motor bike was only in town and so didn’t prepare me for roads that are in horrible condition (in car the 40 km trip takes 2.5 hours, and average of about 15 mph) and steeply go up and down. The good news is that I survived.

The first 15 km are quite easy, only some minor uphills and much of the way roughly paved. The places where the road is gravel it is at least in good condition. However, on the first gravel uphill. I down shifted poorly and the bike got away from me. I got the bike stopped before I went off the edge of the mountain, but I had to tip it over. Good thing I was going slow, so I just hopped off the bike and let it tip over once I stopped. I didn’t even hit the ground. Then on the following downhill I got to the bottom and crossed the river. When I say crossed the river, I mean I literally went through the river and got wet. I was happy that I didn’t tip over and was able to ride with my legs in the air.

Once I got to the other side of the river I looked back and didn’t see the technician that accompanied me, so I waited. After awhile I saw an ambulance stop on the far side of the river. Then I saw a big truck stop and saw a motor bike being hoisted in. I just thought, “oh no!” So I crossed back through the river and sure enough, my companion was in the ambulance. Another motorbike had nearly hit him so he turned hard and wiped out on the gravel on the long downhill. He scrapped his leg up pretty good. The steering column on his bike was bent so he couldn’t ride it the rest of the way. The truck hauled it to Passabe.

I was now on my own. After crossing through the river yet again, I started up the steep, rough and long uphill on the other side. However, I had problems as I was in too high of a gear and stalled the bike out on a 10 or 12 percent grade. I was not experienced enough to be able to work the brake, clutch, and throttle on such a steep grade. I have a problem of either not giving enough throttle or too much. On the hill, I gave it so much throttle that I did a wheelie all the way over backwards. I was able to get off the bike as it went up, but I did crack the rear tail-light when it hit the ground. Luckily, I had passed the ambulance as I crossed the river (it too was going to Passabe) and the Cuban doctor (he works at the health clinic in Passabe) patiently explained to me in English (I didn’t know he was Cuban at this point, and he didn’t know I spoke Spanish) how to better listen to my clutch and throttle. Finally, after 20 minutes of failure, he drove the bike to a flat spot and I practiced a few more times and was off (not such a big deal when you don’t have to worry about the brake.

Over the rest of the trip I stalled the bike a couple more times on steep uphills. If I wasn’t able to get it started, I would just turn the bike around and go downhill until I could find a flat spot so I could start up the hill in a lower gear. Finally by the time I got to Passabe, I could start going up a hill. I’m not proficient, but I don’t kill the motor nearly as often.
I figure by the end of the week I should be an expert.

Mom, you did not read any of this!!!!!!!!!!