Bicycle Travel

As part of my continuing effort to justify owning a really nice bike that I’m totally unqualified to ride, I decided to pack it along with me on my current trip to Barcelona and China.

The best bicycle store in Boston sold me a hard plastic case. Disassembling the bike for shipping was my job: you have to take off the handlebar, pedals, seat and wheels in order to fit the bike into the case.

The first time it took about an hour, mainly because I didn’t realize that the threads on pedal bolts turn in opposite directions on opposite pedals, and so I spent about 30 minutes strenuously tightening the left pedal before realizing what was going on.

With Thomas and Kristien in Barcelona Friday night Biking in Barcelona was unbelievably fun. I rode from my hotel through the city and up to the top of Tibidabo three times, shifting to first gear and standing up on the pedals for the last five minutes each time, Barcelona laid out 1500 feet below me. And then zooming back down the mountain into the city, keeping up with the motorcycles at 30mph zagging through traffic…

When I got to Beijing on Sunday, I was tightening the seat into place when a sudden loud snapping sound indicated that I’d overtightened the seat bolt and sheared it in half. I brought the broken bolt downstairs and found a maintenance guy at the hotel who dug through a huge box of screws and bolts and in about 60 seconds pulled out a perfect match. Phew.

An interesting drum-based bicycle hand brake mechanism
that seems to be common on bicycle carts here in Beijing This weekend I plan to try to get out of Beijing — an amazing city, but one where the pollution makes my throat and eyes sting — and find some rides here in the Chinese countryside. If you have any recommendations, please send mail!

Oh, and one tip. If you’re going to ship your bike on an airplane, remember to let the air out of the tires first.