So today I decided to bike into Paris as part of a plan to
bike instead of use public transportation during covid. This time I didn’t forget my hand sanitizer,
tissues, or helmet. What I didn’t have
though was my husband to serve as a GPS.
Instead I looked at google maps and it looked like a straight shot.
Turns out biking in the city when you don’t know where
you’re going is scary as you don’t have the luxury of standing around on a safe
sidewalk to look at a map. Instead you
are to remain on the street with your hands occupied on your handle bars and
preferably in motion.
I just tried to keep myself on the bike markings on the
street while heading towards the seine.
Sometimes this lead straight on to a one way with a van coming straight
at me (I say van because on a small one way with cars parked on both side you
might possibly be able to squeeze by a car but not a van). Sometimes the bike markings would disappear
altogether and you had to just wing it.
This usually happened at large intersections of main roads with lots of
cars/trucks/buses/motocycles/moped/other bikes/electric scooters/homeless
people trying to get around. And here
you are on a bike feeling flimsy and exposed, the only protection a helmet for
head injuries. I started to feel that
perhaps next time I should bring id in case they needed to identify the body.
When I got to the peripherique and saw the massive
construction I lost my nerve. I turned
back around in a busy intersection which also required quite a bit of nerve in
and of itself.
I biked for 30 minutes.
It’s not a lot of exercise but I def got my heart rate up.
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