Success of the Week: Biking!

That’s right. I’m back on the bike. I’ve been biking to and from work, which takes about 15-20 min. I switched to use Kelly’s bike, which is smaller, so that I can actually stop and get off when I need to. Kelly’s jazzed about it because she gets to ride around on my giant pink bike. It’s win-win.

I really don’t know why I decided that Beijing, one of the craziest and busiest cities in the world, was where I would learn to bike on the street. Growing up I never really biked. I had a bike, but the longest I ever rode was maybe 5 min. when I was 10. It’s not any wonder that the first time I got on my bike here, in the land of “I can fit through that tiny space next to you” that I got into a minor incident (aka hit a parked car.) But that’s behind me now. I even rode past that same spot twice this week, to be sure that I won’t let it block me.

It is scary though. Bikes, motorbikes, electric bikes, cars, buses, and taxis all fit on these curvy roads within inches of each other. Girls sit sidesaddle on the backs of guy’s bikes, their dangling feet swinging dangerously close to the spokes of others passing. Whole families will fit on mopeds, children standing in between the driver’s knees and unstrapped on the back, swerving past bicycle traffic.

Some of the roads we ride on have wide bike lanes, which is great until cars realize they can fit on them- so they do. The worst part of my ride home is this intersection where I have to cross this crazy V-shaped intersection (by miracle and playing chicken) and then I ride on the narrowest, no bike lane, where other bikes still squeeze past me, to cross the train tracks. Yesterday I was at the corner of the narrow, no bike path part, and two buses whizzed by me in a row, literally brushing my left leg. It was everything I could do to calm my shaking body as I kept peddling over the train tracks.

Things that I really like about biking: getting to work faster without having to wait for a bus or flag a taxi, saving money, actually doing something active on a daily basis, feeling the breeze (ok, dirty Beijing air. But some parts of the ride have bridges, ponds, and willow trees which I enjoy).

Why I decided to learn to ride in this city, through its gravel piles on every street, with no helmets in sight, I can’t really say. I’m just glad to have at least one success this week.