I have been on many bicycle trips around the world and seen some truly amazing things. This is in part to the relaxing atmosphere that riding a bicycle brings. Nothing beats an open road or an empty trail, where you have to whistle to let the potential wild animals know you are not their supper. Or an early morning ride before the sun is up to catch a ferry to take you off an island paradise. Or riding along a converted rail line and imagining what brilliance new inhabitants to the land felt and if my emotions are so different.

Then I moved to Vancouver…..

Riding my bike in this city is another type of amazing. This is the second largest city in Canada and the only one that has been designed for all year riding. The bike routes share the road with cars for a few blocks at a time, and then the cars are forced to turn. Buttons have been setup at major intersections, not only for pedestrians, but for bicyclists as well.  The downtown core has a bike route that separates the riders from the cars and keeps the flow rather well. You can leave the city centre to the North at Lions Gate Bridge separated from traffic as well to the south at Burrard Bridge.  You can also ride the entire seawall from Kitsilano all the way around false creek and right to the end of Stanley Park.

These changes were put in place by the city’s “green initiative” and have been complemented by plenty of bicycling parking downtown. The city enforces cyclists to wear a helmet, have a bell, and front and rear lights for night use. I have noticed lately more people not wearing helmets, which can only end badly for those individuals.

This year I decided to get another bike besides my eZee Forza, for the city. I chose a light, single speed racer which has been great, even for the hills. I don’t cover the ground that my eZee bike can but I am not so worried about it getting ripped off. Bike theft seems to run ramped in the city. I spoke to an eZee bike customer the other day that parks his bike near the Science World building when at work, and he witnessed an attempt in broad daylight on his bike. Two men in reflective vest like construction workers, one with a cordless drill and one with a cordless sawzall, were working on his lock when he approached the bike. He yelled at them, they told him off and sauntered away, probably to their next victim. In this day and age of information, you’d think that ordinary citizens with smart phones would take a picture or call the police but instead riders lose their bikes everyday here. Strange days.

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–Bjornson