So, I remember seeing pictures when I was a kid of the streets of China awash with what seemed to be thousands of bikes every which way in total chaos. Though in the last 5 years the number of cars has grown so much that they sometimes have to parallel park 3 cars deep on the roads in some places, the bicycle still rules the road! The largest bike company in the country is in my city and I’ve also heard my city has the most bikes in the world! But, before I give you an idea of what its like for me to bike in this land (a future post), I need to draw a picture for you of what I’ve observed in my first couple months:
• Bikes are actually faster than a car at many times of day (although with the overwhelming pollution, I’m sure it's not as good for my lungs)
• Careful to judge your speed when approaching a stopped bus (of which there are many), if you are going fast enough and several people are getting on/off, you can go on the inside of it by the traffic, but if it is about to accelerate or few people are exiting/entering, you might stay on the outside of the bus.
• If you are rapidly approaching one or more bicycles and it is apparent that they will momentarily impede your progress, you should confidently ring your bell once, while moving to the side that appears to be a gap appearing. No matter how frustrated you are don’t verbally express anything.
• If you ever want everyone to know you are a foreigner simply stand up on your bike. No one in this country ever does it!
• Just about anything that can be transported in a car (dozens of pounds of coal, 10 foot stacks of cardboard, gobs of styrofoam, trash-most of the city’s trash pickup is done, hundreds of vegetables) can be just as easily (almost) transported on a bike or some kind of two-wheeled geared-machine
• At a 4-way stop with a red light for bikes/pedestrians, wait until the perpendicular street’s crosswalk begins to blink green and begin to pedal. Then you will have a good chance to be the first across the street.
At first, it was hard not to take off like a jackrabbit on my bike as soon as the light turned green and the traffic guard waved me on. That’s because I felt so much like I was at the starting line at the beginning of a cross-country race back in high school (or the starting line at the Brickyard 400!). But alas, I have restrained my competitive juices and at least pretend that I've been riding around these thoroughfares my whole life.
