Biking is a big part of my life. I use my bike as transportation, mostly to work but also in general. My parents never owned a car. This made me dependent on feet and pedals. I got used to it. I really dislike driving in the city, although I like the highway when there is not much traffic. This condition is becoming less and less common.
Nevertheless, Brasilia is a challenge. It should not be. Brasilia’s great climate and even topography should make it the ideal place for bikes, but as I wrote many times before, the basic design is bad. The city was designed for an earlier time and an ideology that was more interested in cars than people or the environment.
Still, I persist in riding my bike, even if I have to ride on the grass a lot. My bridge, however, is can sometimes be a challenge, as you see above. I am a little concerned that I have become so used to this sort of obstacle that I am a little contemptuous of the challenge. I ride right past holes like that. Someday, I could get stuck in the holes or fall in the river. But not today.
I have great confidence that Brasilia will someday be a superb city for bike riding. It can be retrofitted with trails and, as you see above, they have begun. Unfortunately, that trail doesn’t really go anywhere. It is recreational, not useful for commuting. It spills into a road and a parking lot, as you see below. There is not much traffic on a Sunday during the holiday season, when I took the picture, but less pleasant other times. The problem is that much of the poor design was intentional on the park of the designers and has been seen as a heritage issue that shouldn’t be changed. I suppose this too will change.
