Graz–Feb. 7, 2025

New Bicycle!

Here it is. I was trying to decide between a 7-speed with gears in the rear hub vs. a 24-speed external derailleur. The 7-speed bicycle had one hand brake for the front wheel and a coaster brake for the rear wheel. This felt really strange to me. They did have one 7-speed with hand brake for both front and rear (plus coaster brake), but it didn’t feel comfortable. The 24-speed just felt right, so I went with it. I also bought a chain lock, helmet, and gloves. Total: 871 € (145 € of which was a 20% value-added tax).

The front hub has a generator for the headlight and taillight; this seems to be standard here in Austria.

As I was checking out, I asked the salesperson if he needed to see my ID. He was very confused by this. I told him that it was fairly common to need ID to make large purchases in California. He was interested in seeing my California driver’s license (he’d never seen one before). He was also a bit surprised that California has helmet laws for people under 18; it’s 14 in Austria.

Chance Encounter

On the way back from the store, I had to park the bike at the main train station so I could buy a monthly ticket. While I was parking, these two high-school-age-looking guys come up to me, and one of them asks in German if I know a wrestler named [couldn’t make it out]. I told them I didn’t know that person. They asked me how long I had been here, and I told them I moved here a month ago. As the conversation developed, I told them I help out with the tournaments in the US, and I asked if they had tournaments here. They will have a Greco tournament at the beginning of March. They had participated in a folkstyle tournament against a visiting team from Louisburg High School in Kansas (at least that’s what my google search leads me to believe) a few months ago.

We carried out much of the conversation in German. One of them switched to English, which he spoke quite well. He said he learned a lot from watching movies in English. He wants to go to Los Angeles some day. At some point we ping-ponged back and forth between English and German.

It turns out they thought I was a wrestler because one of them thought I had cauliflower ear (probably the bike helmet was bending my ear out of shape).

This sort of chance encounter just happens to me, I guess.