Amazing help from a stranger.

smoggysteve

Goes to show how amazing some people can be.

Just been out for a ride through Holland from the German border. Half way round some idiot decides to swerve right in front of me causing me to hit a curb and smash up my front wheel (thankfully on my old bike as I expected rain). Luckily for me, a dutch couple living across the road from where I am inspecting my now written off wheel invite me over and proceed to lend me a replacement wheel to get me home. Complete strangers from a foreign country and they are happy to lend me a, not cheap, Mavic wheel to get home. I cannot put to words how amazing this gesture is and how grateful I am to them.

I wonder where else in the world I would receive such help from someone I have never met or, on the part of the gentleman, even speak the same language. Normally I would be raging at the guy who made me hit the curb and not even bother to stop and ask how I was. I just feel happy that I was able to get home under my own steam thanks to this amazing couple.

Bozman

It gives you hope.

diamonddog

If only people were that nice all the time.
Hope the bike is OK (apart from the wheel obviously)

andy 3654

i love hearing stories like this

smoggysteve

Bike seems ok thanks. Got a bit of a rattle and gap in the head tube but I think thats from readjusting the bars. Not sure I pushed the fork all the way back in. Shame the wheel is written off but I may look at salvaging the hub and rebuilding if I can get a cheapish rim to put on it. Not built wheels for a while so may turn it into a project wheel . The spokes seem good so may be able to re lace them into a different rim.

onemoresolo

Great stuff.

I had a similar experience in France last year when my rear derailleur fell apart miles from anywhere sending jockey wheels and nuts and bolts everywhere. The first guy saw me with my bike upside down and pulled over to help me look despite me saying not to worry. It looked like we wouldn't find the missing parts so he offered to drive me to the nearest town to get sorted. In the time looking, another cyclist pulled over to help and after about half an hour we found everything. Was blown away by people giving up their time and expecting nothing in return so ever since I stop for cyclists having mechanicals. Most say not to worry but I've got a few out of difficulties!

giant_man

You were very lucky, it wouldn't happen over here i'm sure.

dodgy

giant man wrote:

You were very lucky, it wouldn't happen over here i'm sure.

Disagree. I think most people are decent, even in the UK.

I've helped out complete strangers before, haven't you?

bondurant

Precisely. Kindness isn't the prerogative of a nation. Certain people are kind. And certain people are not.

giant_man

dodgy wrote:

giant man wrote:

You were very lucky, it wouldn't happen over here i'm sure.

Disagree. I think most people are decent, even in the UK.

I've helped out complete strangers before, haven't you?

yes of course I have, but the majority of people are anti-cycling over here. The majority of people in the UK are drivers and then there's the friction.

Emphursis

dodgy wrote:

giant man wrote:

You were very lucky, it wouldn't happen over here i'm sure.

Disagree. I think most people are decent, even in the UK.

I've helped out complete strangers before, haven't you?

I agree with you. If I see someone at the side of the road with their bike upside I'll give a shout of 'everything ok?' as I pass. The last time I had a puncture there were a few people that asked if I was ok.

merkin

I take it you have nicked their Mavic wheel?

dodgy

giant man wrote:

dodgy wrote:

giant man wrote:

You were very lucky, it wouldn't happen over here i'm sure.

Disagree. I think most people are decent, even in the UK.

I've helped out complete strangers before, haven't you?

yes of course I have, but the majority of people are anti-cycling over here. The majority of people in the UK are drivers and then there's the friction.

We have problems of course, but I still don't agree that the 'majority of people are anti-cycling here'. Most people wouldn't see a cyclist in need, they'd see a person in need.

I think we see too much stuff put into sharp focus with cycling news sites always putting up the negatives. See also @cyclinghatred on Twitter.

smoggysteve

merkin wrote:

I take it you have nicked their Mavic wheel?

Was probably worth more than the complete set I had on to begin with. Returned with a couple of bottles of wine as a thank you. Considering I was fortunate to crash outside a cyclists house, tells me karma would kick my arse if I nicked it.

socistep

great to hear.

I was with my parents at the weekend and they were showing me pictures from their touring holiday from Paris to south coast of france. At one point they showed me a photo of a group of club riders who stopped to speak to them then gave them a different route to go up that wasn't as hilly, then followed them through the town to make sure they had got through and then had waited at one of the climbs to point them in the right direction

solosuperia

I find it a tad embarrassing to mention this on here............
As a number of people above I always offer help and assistance.
I live in a very rural area and a rider was studying his map, can I help, yea I'm trying to get to X.
Now the map was of the sort that didn't show unclassified roads or what have you and we were at the crossroads of very unclassified roads. Besides myself I guess the last person to use it was a Roman!
Go down here 2nd left 1st right Ok
A mile or so down the road, I suddenly thought hang on that should have been 1st right 2nd left.
I now imagine the poor lad riding round completely lost like the Flying Dutchman.
Just fallen in "amazing help from a stranger"
I'll get me coat!

Frank Wilson

A few years back I did a cycling holiday around Finland. I flew with my bike (full carbon too much specification to mention) to Tallinn in Estonia and then got the ferry over to Helsinki, you land at the busy harbour and market place. There is both an outdoor and indoor market there which are always very busy and is a great place to stop for a chat and a coffee, watching the milling throng go about its business.

I then set out on my journey up route 130 to my intended destination of Valkeakoski. The town is famous for its paper pulping industry and like many members of the British Paper Pulping Appreciation Society I decided I should make the pilgrimage to see the town. If paper pulping is not your bag you can watch the local football team FK Haka or just up the road is another local team Tampere. Also the Rally of Finland, part of the world rally series passes through this area.

Having spent an enjoyable day on a site visit to the paper mill (which very excitingly included getting some pulp samples) I spent the night in the local pub / disco before retiring to my hotel, a rather plush hotel and spa set in a quiet backwater of the town by the park.

The next day I stopped off in Tampere but there was no paper mill there so not a lot to see really and re-commenced my cycle heading south back towards Helsinki before heading west for Turku with the idea of catching the ferry to Stockhlom in Sweden. Incidentally Turku is the oldest city of Finland and was once I believe, the Capitol of Finland before that honour was bestowed on Helsinki when Finland was seeded into the Russian Empire.


Anyway, back to the cycling and I am some thirty miles from Turku when disaster struck. My full carbon hand built ultra light super strong handlebars snapped, right in the middle of a steep downhill and I am sent off the bike rolling down this hill on my backside. I came to rest outside this small row of houses, no more than six, in the middle of nowhere. “Are you ok?” this chap shouts at me (obviously not in English) “I think so, a few grazes but it looks like my Kevlar shorts have saved me from any real damage, but my handlebars are broken and maybe there may be some other damage to the bike” “Ok” he says (now in English after hearing me) “I will take a look at it for you and sort it out” “Do you know about bikes?” I ask rather suspiciously, “Yes”, he replied “It is your lucky day I used to be a cycle mechanic on the Faema team during the seventies” “Gosh” I exclaimed “didn’t Eddie Merckx ride for Faema?” “Yes” he replied with a wry smile on his face.

Freidrick Soorderland as I later found his name to be was a tall chap, probably early sixties with a cigarette continually in his mouth, a weathered face but a winning smile.

He picked up my full carbon high spec bike with it’s T42s, F59s and full race B42s and walked towards a dilapidated out building behind his property. He pulled the big oak door open to reveal an aladins cave of bikes, spare parts, milling machines and enough wall hung tool racks to build a nuclear submarine.

“I can fix your bike and make it like new” he said “but I need you to do me a favour in return” Well I’m in the Finnish outback with a broken bike and nowhere to go so I have no option but to say “Yes, of course anything you need” My heart was beating at this point, with all sorts of thoughts racing through my head.

“It is my wife, Aninga” he started, “ she is a lot younger than me and I have not been able to satisfy her sexually now for some years and even though she never complains I know that she would enjoy the sexual company of a younger man, if I fix your bike, can you fix Aninga for me?”

Now as a red blooded male you are not going to turn down an unexpected sexual liason but all sorts of images of Aninga are running through my head, what if she is a twenty stone munter with many chins and a corresponding number of bottoms?

Freiderick leads me tentatively to the house, I follow him in slowly and there stood in the kitchen up to her elbows in baking flour is Aninga, a true vision in a mauve short sleeved t-shirt and figure hugging jeans, short blonde hair a slim and proportioned figure many a super model would crave and even covered in baking flour a smile that would melt the collective hearts of the pollitt bureau.

“Frank has had a cycle accident” started Freiderick, “I am going to fix his bike for him, it may take me a couple of hours down in the shed, can you tend to his cuts and grazes?”

“Certainly” Aninja replies and flashes me a smile lit up by the greenest eyes you have ever seen.

Freiderick leaves the house and heads for the shed, “Take off your clothes” commands Aninga “and I will put them through the washing machine whilst I am tending your wounds” “The special kevlar shorts are hand wash only” I replied.

We both laughed at this hysterically as I undressed. “If you would like to lie on the bed I can have a better look at your cuts” stated Aninga. I duly obliged and lay there fully naked whilst Aninga worked her magic on my abrasions, the sting of the dettol practically unnoticeable when masked by the subtlety of her touch, a touch that was so soft and gentle, but sensual and stimulating my whole body was tingling and it wasn’t long before my manhood was aroused and was standing to attention. This was obviously not lost on Aninga as she stood up and slowly peeled the mauve t-shirt over her head and on to the floor to reveal perfectly formed pert breasts and a washboard flat stomach that had obviously not been conditioned by Ronald Macdonald as is so often the case with British women nowadays.

She eased her figure hugging jeans down to the floor bringing with them her snow white panties, as she stepped out of them out of my mouth came “Aninga, you are beautiful” rather corny perhaps but she was. Aninga was probably thirty five and it was obvious that although she still loved and cared for Freiderick very deeply she needed the sexual company of a younger man.

Aninga and I exhausted each other for what seemed like all to short a time, but was in fact three hours, before Freiderick came back and proudly told us “Frank your bike is fixed, has Aninga been looking after you?”

“Yes” I replied, “she has been the perfect host” I went for a shower and put my freshly laundered cycling gear back on and we all sat down to a supper of braised elk and soda dumplings washed down with some local bottled beer..

After supper I prepared to leave, I went outside to see my bike back in one piece and gleaming, Frirderick had not only mended it but had fully serviced and cleaned it adding a new C69 groupset and S47 levers.

Friederick and Aninga stood at the door to bid me farewell, I shook hands with Friederick who flashed me a wry smile, I pecked Aninga on the cheek even though my body was craving to do more it seemed like the respectful thing to do.

It was dark now as I set off for the ferry to Sweden but this was no problem as Freiderick had fitted brand new T85 led lights front and back.

The cycle to the ferry port was an uneventful eighteen miles which I covered in forty seven minutes at an average speed of 23.2 mph and achieved four local KOM’s.

There is a sequel to this story which starts with an e-mail nine months later from Aninga, perhaps I’ll share it with you some time.

polska1979

Brilliant

Wasted on this site :-)

merkin

Brings back memories.

I was in the wardrobe

Lycra-Byka

Aninga is a actually 42. Did she tell you about the disease?

the playing mantis

hmm, whats the smell? should some saddos fantasy really be in road general, fine put it in BB (where we have been having some censorship discussions) but not in road genral where anyone can stumble upon it.

chrisaonabike

That is such an obviously embellished story. If you hadn't over-egged it by referring to the non-existent Paper Pulping Appreciation Society, British or otherwise, no one would have suspected that it wasn't completely true.

Other than the 23 mph average, of course, no one can ride that fast.

Frank Wilson

the playing mantis wrote:

hmm, whats the smell? should some saddos fantasy really be in road general, fine put it in BB (where we have been having some censorship discussions) but not in road genral where anyone can stumble upon it.

Unfortunately you have obviously missed the main point of the post, re-read it and see if you get it, if you don't then it would appear subtlety and irony are not up there in your make up.

Mikey23

Ah, skimmed it and missed the point ... And me thinking it was true and booking a holiday to Finland...

the playing mantis

Frank Wilson wrote:

the playing mantis wrote:

hmm, whats the smell? should some saddos fantasy really be in road general, fine put it in BB (where we have been having some censorship discussions) but not in road genral where anyone can stumble upon it.

Unfortunately you have obviously missed the main point of the post, re-read it and see if you get it, if you don't then it would appear subtlety and irony are not up there in your make up.

no there, not, clearly. in these new founds times of valour and purity, in order to protect the innocent and not corrupt there fragile minds this need to be vanquished to BB. as the forum white knight, mikey (and as we know ur looking for stuff to do whilst ur stuck at home)do the honorable thing and slay this beast otherwise some poor sod could come and read this and get in all of a fluster when they read about 'frankwilsons' member.

Mikey23

Quite agree, moral standards just have to be maintained...but I'm off duty this afternoon, so will adjust my Mary whitehouse poster which I keep in the thatcher room and go browse some Internet porn while listening to TMS until my next shot of meds is due... Life is sweet

zencycletourer

I was cycling in Brittany one time and I met some guys in a village bar. They invited me to their house for a drink and to listen to them play the tradional music of the region. And boy did they play. All night drinking, eating, telling stories and playing beautiful music.

Finally I stood unsteadily up to leave and I was told just sleep on the sofa which was a relief after a weeks camping on rock hard tent pitches.

In the morning I showered, breakfasted and made to leave. My host refused to let me leave until he had given my bike a tune up (he used to work in a bike shop).

The kindness of strangers.

Wayne Plunger

Beware the stranger.

I once had a mechanical in Lincoln, another cyclist stopped and said he could help as he had the parts to fix it at his house.

I followed him home and well you know he tried it on, man on man like, wanted to do that to me, you know what men do to each other, never moved so fast in my life, bike on shoulder, ran like a b--tard.

Never been back to Lincoln.

imposter2.0

Wayne Plunger wrote:

Beware the stranger.

I once had a mechanical in Lincoln, another cyclist stopped and said he could help as he had the parts to fix it at his house.

I followed him home and well you know he tried it on, man on man like, wanted to do that to me, you know what men do to each other, never moved so fast in my life, bike on shoulder, ran like a b--tard.

Never been back to Lincoln.

You dug up a six year old thread in order to make a joke about homosexuals?

Wayne Plunger

Imposter wrote:

Wayne Plunger wrote:

Beware the stranger.

I once had a mechanical in Lincoln, another cyclist stopped and said he could help as he had the parts to fix it at his house.

I followed him home and well you know he tried it on, man on man like, wanted to do that to me, you know what men do to each other, never moved so fast in my life, bike on shoulder, ran like a b--tard.

Never been back to Lincoln.

You dug up a six year old thread in order to make a joke about homosexuals?

Real life experience pal, don't judge me by your standards.

imposter2.0

Wayne Plunger wrote:

Imposter wrote:

Wayne Plunger wrote:

Beware the stranger.

I once had a mechanical in Lincoln, another cyclist stopped and said he could help as he had the parts to fix it at his house.

I followed him home and well you know he tried it on, man on man like, wanted to do that to me, you know what men do to each other, never moved so fast in my life, bike on shoulder, ran like a b--tard.

Never been back to Lincoln.

You dug up a six year old thread in order to make a joke about homosexuals?

Real life experience pal, don't judge me by your standards.

Too late mate, I already did. Are you so determined to express your casual homophobia that you need to dig up old fossils like this. Try the cake stop instead...