Since this Sunday city bike ride seemed like a 'thing', I went searching. The "
Muévete en bici" apparently, but what an amazing facility(?)/event(?)/experience(?).
It is all of those things!
A wonderful facility, a fun, uplifting event and definitely something to experience.
Without meaning to be big headed, I've cycled in some great places - Sunday in CDMX is up there with the best.
I look to the Netherlands for cycling which is embedded in the national psyche - something like the Muévete probably isn't needed there? Bike-friendly cities such as Portland, Oregon have annual bike festivals such as
Pedalpalooza, and more regular rides, but nothing I'm aware of on the scale of the Muévete.
There's no need in NL, although I am aware of 1 or 2 day rides.
However, groups of students (on school trips) or retirees are regular sights.
But.... My understanding is that back in the 50s/60s local governments made town centres traffic free on Sundays as a part of a move to using cars less. The Dutch infrastructure and attitude to cycling is something that has been fought for, built up, planned for.
If I had to name a city that gave over so many km of its streets to cyclists, once a week, every week, and had been doing so for 14 years(!), CDMX would not have figured in my top ten guesses. Perhaps that says something about my ignorance of other cultures, especially those where English is not the primary language?
Ian, I was here & didn't know about it!
I looked online, saw it was postponed due to Covid, and had a completely distorted view of what it actually was!
Ignorance can be a hard word.
Remember, my initial response when I saw it was puzzlement. It was only when I actually joined in that I actually "got it".
Or perhaps it says something about our lack of ambition and poor attitude towards cycling in the UK that nothing remotely of that scale exists here.
That's a toughie.
There is a different attitude here to bikes - they are a part of normal, every day traffic. People work on them.
( One thing I left out of the post had to do with the typical "workbike" here in the city - an old, battered MTB with a large, steel rack at the rear to carry crates of cargo. I'll see a few of those on a Sunday, crate gone, a cushion in its place and some father-child time being enjoyed - the majority of passengers are girls! )
But there's a wider societal difference too. The biggest difference, to my view, is a lack of (critical) judgement of others. People give and receive the benefit of the doubt all the time.
I'd imagine that any attempt to get something similar off the ground could easily get bogged down in training volunteers, insurance, rules - covering all the negative bases, in other words. I mean, could volunteers set up tents and carry out repairs without insurance?
Similarly, how would dogs react? And people to dogs?
I did post recently about increased cycling infrastructure in European cities due to Covid. The response wouldn't be classed as optimistic
. On a cycling forum!! Imagine what a Daily Mail reader would make of it!
If ever there was a time to get a popular bicycle event off the ground, surely it would be the summer that a pandemic is winding down when lots of people have gone out and bought bikes?
Is it not true that a lot of towns and cities are dead on Sundays due to out of town shopping centres?
A thing I think that is worth remembering is that the membership of a cycling forum is a teeny tiny subset of people who actually ride bikes.
Perhaps it's linked with all of the other accommodations and allowances that people generously make for one another that you described in this and many of the other posts - the Muévete is just one more manifestation of Méxican-ness?
Yes!
The things I see on a Sunday are the things I see every day - basic respect, good manners, inclusion, smiles and a little craziness.
The things I don't see on a weekday, things like anti-social behaviour, also are absent on a Sunday.
I made a point last Sunday to slowly cycle past the grumpiest, meanest looking Policeman I saw on the route and say "Gracias". In an instant I received a beaming smile.
I'd challenge even the most cynical anti-cyclist to wander (even on foot!) the route on a Sunday and not be moved by all the sights to be seen.
The
night rides sound like they might be worth checking out, if you have the chance.
Riding at night is fun in this place!!
Life threatening, but fun!
