Mountain Biking with Mustafa

Last weekend, John and I went riding on the bike trails in Adana. After we got done, we were trying to descend some stairs on our bikes. A turk named Mustafa stopped to watch. He was impressed with our bikes and thought we were crazy to try the stairs. He seemed like a nice guy so we decided to meet him again to go "make exercise in the park."

John, Mike and I met Mustafa in the park a couple days later. We rode the trails and B.S.'d with him. He is studying electronics at a local community college. After we rode in the park, we were going to go shuttle some dirt roads in the mountains north of Adana. We figured, "what the heck? Let's just invite him along." So we invited him and he decided to come with us. On the way to the truck we found an interesting site...a random cow bathing in the lake in the midde of the city park. Really, it's not that uncommon to see cows and goats everywhere, but we took a picture because at this point it's still a novelty.

Mustafa ended up being pretty good. At least in good shape. He was a little hesistant to get too crazy which was a little surprising given our past experience with Turks' driving habits and ability to jump out of a 10 ft ledge onto uneven ground at a local castle. It was good times.

Turks have no concept of littering, we got done with a 12-pack of Diet Pepsi and he said, "I'll take care of the box" and took it to the bushes. We all said not to worry about it and to just throw it in the truck. He looked at us like we were crazy and threw it in the bushes anyway. Maybe we'll pick it up the next time we are up there.

Not our trash, but you get the picture.

At the end of the day, we didn't destroy his bike like we thought. The roads are pretty rocky and when you start flying down them, it can do a number on a cheap bike rim. Just one flat which we fixed with slime-it was a godsend because he didn't have quick release and we didn't have a wrench.

After mountian biking we went for Kebaps. Mustafa ordered us Adana kebaps which are the regional specialty. We got a ton of good food and "made conversation" as Mustafa likes to say.

We ended up paying 43 Turkish Lira (TL) (about $28) total which was a little steap for Turkey but it was a nice place and we all tried some Baklava...nice enough for a few couples to have their wedding receptions there.

On the way home we had a great turkish moment. We needed to make a left at but there was a concrete median. Mustafa nonchalantly said, "You'll have to go around that way." And pointed into the oncoming lane. It was about a 50 meter drive and I would have had to weave through cars. I have to admit I considered it (damn near anything goes in Turkey), but I decided to make a left. So we pulled through the parking lot and only went 25 meters the wrong way. The best part was that he said, "we'll this works, but I usually just cut straight through." I'm still a Turkish driver in training, but I'm getting there.