EARLY CASE OF BONKING

First of all, let me explain the concept of bonking. I must say I experienced this phenomenon quite a lot of times in my life without realizing there was actually a name for it. Here we go. Bonking is when you start to feel dizzy, your legs feel like there's not a bone inside of them, you start getting moody because of no apparent reason. In short you feel like shit. Now the reason you feel like this is because you didn't follow two very simple rules. Rules often repeated during Aids Lifecycle: eat before you're hungry and drink before you're thirsty.

Now why am I telling you this? Normally bonking happens to me during my training, so when I immerse myself in strenuous exercise. Standing in line to be registered for Aids Lifecycle isn't what I would call strenuous exercise. And still, today I suffered from a massive attack of bonking. So Day 0, as this day is called, was a bit of a bummer for me.

On the bright side I met a lot of nice people: Mike, my Russian comrade. I met him last year during ALC5 on day 2. I wore my bright red CCCP (=cyrillic for Russia) cycle jersey and out of the blue came Mike, calling me - in his best Russian accent: "Ghey you comrud (=comrade). Ghow are you doingk?" Of course coming from a foreign country and being a total ALC virgin, I felt completely happy. I had a new friend. The next day, when I wore a different cycle jersey I met Mike again. It took him some time to recognize me. I admit, I was undercover. Anyway, we started talking and for a brief moment our lives crossed. And you know, that's exactly what I like so much about doing this ride. You meet people you would normally never meet.

Ok, apart from Mike there was the bike mechanic who fit my bike last year. I presume he must have tons of customers throughout the year. Still when I gave him a phonecall a week ago to tell him I would be back he knew exactly who I was. He even remembered he put a longer stem on my steering wheel. How's that for an excellent memory.

Besides there were new people to be met on Day O e.g. Andrew. For a while now I have mailed with Andrew who works for the San Francisco Aids Foundation. Andrew is very internationally oriented. Moreover he can speak a dozen languages. Don't ask me why but for the last two years he's been learning Dutch. Considering only 25 million people on this planet speak Dutch I have wondered why on earth Andrew wants to learn my native language? I have forgotten to ask him, but I do admire his efforts. Moreover exchanging emails with him has been a lot of fun. Every week he learns new sentences. When he was writing his last email he was taught what to say when going to a Dutch shop. I remember he learned to be bitchy in case a Dutch employee would give him a Dutch Treat. Go get the bastards Andrew!