Making cycling easier
I want to ride my bicycle…
So, today was the first time I cycled to work. We used to cycle in London and we have started to cycle a little in Berlin and a few times towards work so that we know the best route, but today was the first official “I’m cycling to work” day. And it was wonderful. The sun was shining – but it wasn’t too hot. The roads are made for us cyclists – the entire way there, we only came across one small part of the road when we had to share with cars and this was due to roadworks. The rest of the journey was quiet and comfortable. The tiniest bit of uphill made it a challenge after work and standing for 9 hours, but I made it – haha!
Jason was lovely enough to cycle me there and back. Although I’m confident on my bike, my head doesn’t seem to understand directions of any kind. At our old place I used to always walk in the completely wrong direction every time I tried to find somewhere new. I just wasn’t born with the inbuilt road and map system that Jason has. I think that’s also why all my absolute best friends have inner build maps. I can’t find anything and they can – so it makes sense to befriend these people and then follow them. Haha.
BUT – some amazing human being has invented an iPhone holder for your bike. You screw it onto your handlebars and you can see a googlemap in front of you for the whole of your journey. It’s basically a Navi for your bike. So with that, I would even consider cycling to work all by myself, as with googlemaps on my phone, there is very little chance of me getting lost…
4 Comments
Jakob
If you don’t want to look at the screen, you can alternatively turn up the volume and listen to the voice directions Google Maps has to offer. 😀 Well, and listen to music this way, since it is not allowed to put on headphones while riding a bike in Germany. 🙂
Vanessa Abel
Oooooh, that’s a good idea! Danke 🙂 I heard today that cycling is in the news a lot in Germany currently – apparently the laws are changing and you have to have lights on at night and wear a helmet. Do you cycle too?! 🙂
Jakob
I cycle everyday, I think the prices for tram rides too high, and I can use the exercise.
Haven’t heard any changes, but I was under the impression that it is optional to wear a helmet and obligatory to turn on the lights in the dark, as well as having reflectors.
Recently some biker crashed into a opening car door, and she was given compensation despite not wearing a helmet. So perhaps this kind of cases are occur so often, they want to make wearing a protection obligatory.
Vanessa Abel
I think that is the case my colleagues were talking about. The lady crashed and the insurance company said that she has to pay 20% of her health fees herself, as she wouldn’t have been as injured if she had been wearing a helmet. Interesting…
I would like to cycle all the time too, but I have to say my bum is hurting after yesterday – haha. Just need my legs to get used to the different exercise and I hope I will be on my bike everyday, just like in Japan. I miss cycling we are so lucky that there are no hills here and mostly bike lanes the whole way, so it feels nice and safe.
Maybe you can cycle to Berlin and visit us?! 🙂