15 September, 2012

Madrid on Two Wheels

For almost a year now, Esteban has been telling me that Madrid is best seen by bicycle.

Yeah yeah yeah, I said, always doubting his "Madrileño ways'. I was always comparing the thought to my beloved bici rides in Valencia, riding through rows of palm trees that ended at the Mediterranean sea on Valencia's wonderful Valenbisi system. 

And for almost a year now, he's been talking about buying us bicycles... yeah yeah yeah... we'll see

Well the day finally came! He bought a used bicycle from a friend, and had his parents bring his beloved bici from Albacete, and here we are with two bikes on my coveted terraza next to my coveted BBQ!

After some tune ups on the bicycles we were ready to rock and roll. Last sunday we went on our first excursion. Destination: Retiro

We followed one of the very few bicycle paths within the city, that lead us straight to the gates of Retiro, the central park of Madrid.


The ride was nice, with the hustle and bustle of the sunday cyclists and sunday park goers. It was a nice change from going by car or even by metro. It allowed me to travel above ground and to glance a moment longer at my surroundings during the commute. 

The next excursion was yesterday, we went to Parque Juan Carlos I, east of the city. We passed by Estadio Olimpico, a completely different atmosphere from the ride to retiro. This one was a whole lot greener, with a lot more empty space, and a lot more room to ride. The bicycle path was a lot bigger, but it was shared with a lot more cyclists. It did get a little dangerous around curves with the ballsy cyclists who wanted to pass into oncoming bicycle traffic. 

Well you can get a glimpse of the few bike lanes that exist throughout the city here, or you can get yourself a helmet and brave it on the main roads. I prefer to be safe than sorry. 

There is also this fun website I found En Bici Por Madrid that organizes rides throughout the city, something Im hoping we can check out soon!

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