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Monday, April 26, 2010

Critical mass baptism


This weekend I rode my first Critical Mass--well done me!

We were about 35,000 people on Saturday, biking from Roosevelt ter, via Lanchid and Erszebet
bridge, past the Parliament and all the way to the City Park (see the route map here). In my imperfect estimate that was a bit less than 10km in length.

The weather was fantastic and so was the ride, despite the inevitable bottlenecks and having to push the bike occasionally. I was alone so I looked around in curiosity, observing the crowd, and I was impressed by how diverse a group it was--there were kids pedaling patiently, babies on the back of their parent's bicycles, over-enthusiastic teenagers, couples, mothers with daughters, even an elderly citizen here and there. Before I had thought that Critical Mass is just for bike pros, but it is far more democratic than that, and I loved that aspect of it.

This was also my longest ride ever, given that I am a complete novice and that this was only the third biking attempt in my whole adult life. Until now, I haven't ventured far from home because I was afraid of traffic, or that I would get too tired and have to push the bike back home. These are probably typical fears for someone very green but I realized they were totally unfounded--it is possible to have very long rides in Budapest without going into traffic, just following bike tracks around the city. My friend Greg from Cycling Solution would probably say that there is a lot of room for improvement but from my amateurish point of view, Budapest already has great infrastructure for biking and more people should be made aware of that.

But the best thing about this Critical Mass event for me is that I got very confident and absolutely excited about biking, so this is definitely not going to be a one-off thing for me. My next challenge is to try to ride all he way to Szentendre (20km from Budapest)--watch this space!







7 comments:

spudballoo said...

Wow how totally cool! Well done you...I'm 'thinking' about getting a bike. MrSpud has suggested an electric one to 'give me a little help up the hills'. GRUDGE BOOK x

Jelica said...

Electric bike?! Tell me you are joking :) When you do get a bike come to Budapest for some practice, we'll avoid the hills...

Delwyn said...

How wonderful jelica

I used to bike to school everyday until I was 17 - and always into a head wind...or so it seemed. I haven't had one for yonks but am planning on buying a simple one very soon.

happy biking

kristina said...

Well done! My home town is quite treacherous for bicyclists: from where I live down into town it's downhill all the way, which makes it seems so easy. But then of course, when going home, it's one long uphill battle...

Merisi said...

You are very brave! :-)

I used to ride 7km to school, every day, even in winter when there was snow and love riding a bicycle to this day.

Greg Spencer said...

Kristin tells me you followed through on the pledge to ride to Szentendre -- not a bad undertaking for a novice cyclist! What's next?

Jelica said...

The next is another ride from Sz to Bp tomorrow, if it doesn't rain. And then it's a tour around Balaton!

No, kidding, but I want to do a weekend of biking somewhere in Hungary and I have a list of 10 best bike routes so now I just have to pick the shortest :)))