Flashback: The Beijing Bike Blog

11 Sep 2005

Bi-de’s Beijing Bike Blog

Having only ridden about 100 miles on my bike in Beijing – that is commuting to work about 5 times – I hardly have enough experience of bike-riding in Beijing to warrant a thesis. But while my initial impressions are fresh, it might be worthy of a blog.

Above all, I’d say it is a celebration of the senses – and as such, is an excellent way to experience a bit more of Beijing. And whereas in the States I would wear all the bike gear – I try my hardest hear to just blend in, so that I can be a part of the daily ride, rather than the spectacle it is watching, but even that remains difficult.

SOUND – perhaps the most important sense. There is surprisingly a well-understood respect for bicycles. I’m not sure if this is because the law is such that the bike is generally right. And, there is a well-understood exception to this respect – which is indicated by the large vehicle continuously honking its horn, meaning “no, I won’t stop”. The yellow buses are the worst at this, but are popular with the bus-riders as they get to their destination quicker, and if you’ve tried to manoeuvre around one – it’s likely a passenger will wave at you out of the window, indicating very politely that you were foolish to try! And with crowded bike lanes full of slower bikes, one is overtaking most of the time, which led to the necessity to buy one more bike accessory – the bell. Though it does take getting used to it meaning “excuse me, but if you don’t mind, could I pass” rather than “get out of the way, you oaf” – as it would in the west!

SIGHT – complimentary to sound of course… Something I have learned is quite important as it has started to get dark earlier, and I’m still wearing sunglasses. Essential for recognizing those yellow buses, and spotting the extra large pot holes. But most importantly, for identifying the best route to weave along through the slow-moving taxis, buses, bikes, rickshaws, horse-drawn buggies, pedestrians. While there are plenty of well-recognized bike lanes, they tend to have bus stops in them, and pedestrians and other slow-moving animals like horses like them too. Though the main hazard – perhaps my closest near-miss, is the bicycle coming the wrong way down the bike lane… This appears to be quite acceptable – and is not limited to bike lanes (I’ve seen bikes happily go the wrong way down the major highway!). Now, both sound and sight are essential to avoid someone else’s spit. You should be able to hear the spit being prepared – something performed quite loudly, and is perfectly acceptable here – which primes you for any last-minute dodge. Fortunately, they are happy to actually spit relatively discretely, in the same way that the kids pee relatively discretely by peeing by the tree in the playground… or Taxi drivers go in the grass about 5 yards from the taxi…

TOUCH – surprisingly in the one week, I have not touched another moving item! I feel like I am in a pack like at the beginning of the Tour de France, with buses and horses thrown in – but I have so far managed to maintain that space cushion of one inch all the way around me! Through touch, you feel the potholes, which actually aren’t too bad. With so many cyclists on the road, it seems like the big ones are fixed! The touch sense is more of an alarm bell – that you have a flat… After 2 days of successful commutes, the punctures hit… I had noticed puncture repair stations about every mile on the previous two rides, and wondered how they worked… I noticed the first flat in my back tyre, so changed that myself as I was carrying one spare (which drew quite the crowd!), and was quickly embarrassed to find that my front was flat too… No bike repair station immediately visible, so I start walking, and after about 5 minutes, the mobile bike repair stations finds me! He fixes one flat, but we find that the valve stem of the other two inner tubes are bad, so I buy a new inner tube from him. (Not all really surprising considering the tubes were probably 5 years old…) It was an interesting time trying to negotiate the price, as it was rather difficult to do before the work started (didn’t know what was needed) – and when I tried, I hardly understood a word… I think I paid a reasonable price, with foreigner tax included, to get me to work… However, by the time I was at work, the touch-sense alarm bell was starting to go off again, so I “borrowed” a local coworker who bikes to work, and went to a bike man on the university campus. Now, if Beijing is like a bike zoo, then the university is like an overcrowded sheep pen – bikes just everywhere! So, this bike repair man has experience! Both of my tyres are soft again. One has a slow leak in the valve stem (the one I bought from the mobile bike repair man…), and the patch repair on the other one is leaking. Through my co-worker we discussed options for new inner tubes (3 different prices for 3 different qualities), so I bought 3, and he even said that if these had any problems in the next 3 months (that weren’t due to something like a nail) – he’d give me a new one! He certainly knew to pump plenty of air into the tyres – but I guess that’s something you learn when you normally carry your family on the back of your bike! What was interesting though was that he did not understand the quick release mechanisms I had…

SMELL – which is both good and bad. Yes, you have to avoid the relatively rare piles of horse manure, or the smell tends to stay with you. The buses can belch out tons of fumes, but that’s just something to accelerate through! The major disadvantage I have over locals is the tendency to sweat. As someone pointed out at work having ridden in a very crowded, and rather warm elevator – there would have been a definite odour in the west – of sweat, combined with strong perfumes to hide it – but there is neither of that here. I believe it is because Asians genetically sweat less, or certainly smell less! Now, this puts me at quite a disadvantage – especially when there are not any showers at work! So, I had to apply a recent technique we’d used on the kids – the wet-wipe bath. Most effective – well, I haven’t had any complaints yet! Last week, I cycled home a bit later, and while the sight sense was starting to get worried as it got dark, the smell receptors were celebrating as I cycled through the constantly changing aroma of Chinese cooking. It was dinner time, and it seemed like it was a different dish about every 20 seconds. I couldn’t spot the origin of the smells (it was getting dark, remember) – or I might have been tempted to use the taste sense!

TASTE – hasn’t been used on the bike a whole lot yet, which is probably fortunate. It hasn’t rained here for a month, and I think I will avoid cycling when it does, as I don’t really want to taste the puddles being splashed into my face. Though I could say, I’m getting a taste for what I call “the game”. The route I take to work is the feeder road for Beijing’s 4^th ring road – a busy street, with several lanes for cars, taxis and buses – as well as a one or two lane bike lane most of the time. The “game” is that getting from A to B is a race – whether it is around the braking bus, or the accelerating bus, or the stationary line of Taxis, or the traffic lights, or simply a bunch of bikes. It’s more about quick decisions and hopping curves and squeezing between cars that just allow the one-inch of space cushion, or going through the red traffic light when a very large truck does, and you just use it as your shelter! While riding, I’m constantly on the look out for “players”. While the game is fun to play by yourself, I’m still new so have lots to learn. Players are typically those that pass you, but aren’t on a motorized bike. They teach you weaving tricks, or perhaps a short cut. One trick I have not picked up, and probably won’t, is cycling at full speed into a junction when two roads merge. Yes, I believe that the bike has the right of way, and I think I’d be able to hear the yellow bus if it was around the blind corner, but I guess I’m just too Western! Does the volume of the bell/horn device on the bike indicate the seriousness of the player? Yet to determine that one.