6.29.06 kulturnatib

Cycle culture

A week after arriving here, I bought a second-hand bicycle. Here is the City of Gatineau, in the province of Quebec, Canada - near its better known stone-throw-across-the-river sister city, Ottawa. Thanks to the generous prodding of my partner plus my own hankering for immersing as much as possible in the local culture I found my way back to Dave’s Bike Dump.

This was my third attempt. The first one was a small disappointment. I walked some four kilometers not knowing exactly where to find what I was looking for but knowing that if I didn’t find it soon enough I would find a closed shop. Since I passed by another bike shop that had also been recommended that I look into, I decided that a bird in hand would be better. I doubled back to this shop and found out that if there ever was a bike dump this was it. I didn’t have to look far or thoroughly to see that with those bikes days of scrubbing off rust was the first step to enjoying biking with many more steps before one can even get into the saddle without risking tetanus.

The second attempt was essentially reenacting the trip that I had earlier taken on the computer with the help of Google (satellite) maps that, with a street or a phone number, gives a new dimension to that old PLDT slogan ‘let your fingers do the walking.’ This was also my first attempt with this Google feature that, for those living in cities that are part of this feature (meaning, extensively satellite mapped), also gives a new meaning to ‘privacy paranoia’.

That second attempt was also a dissapointment. A very minor one though. The shop was closed that day. Strange, for a Tuesday. But, through the gate, I saw many bikes to choose from, arranged neatly on bicycle stands or hanging from wall hangers. This was a tongue-in-cheek dump, and Dave could turn out to be a colorful figure.

He is, I found out the next day. He has the garrulous but stern demeanor of someone who has little time to waste. He gets down straight to business, of which there was nothing too small to be one: a bent up wheel resulting from a collision with a horse, a chain wheel axle that had not been properly assembled, an entire bicycle that a child wanted swapping with another one she fancied better, a rear shock absorber that needed adjustment and my own request that the headset, stem and handlebars to the bike I was buying be changed. At no extra cost, I found out.

I also found out up-close what I had been observating from a distance in the few days that I had been in this city.

This is a bicycle city. Just as much as it is a car, truck, bus city. Yet compared to the Philippines, bicycles here are quite pricey. My original bicycle could sell for more than what I paid for this recent second-hand one. But it might not sell well or fast because by and large, most bikers here are very pragmatic bikers eschewing models that add very little functional advantage for driving through very well paved roads and bike paths.

This pragmatism is also seen in the fact that, except for the dedicated racing models, bikes here are all equipped with rear carriers. With such devices one gets to free one’s hands from carrying loads needed for work, for marketing or even for more sports. Thus, many bikes here have either one or two bags slung over their bike carriers with sometimes, a third one on top of the carrier itself. This make it easy to engage in most activities that are easily facilitated through or accomodated on a bicycle.

It is also very clear that bicycles are an important consideration for planning this city. Aside from the numerous, well connected and well paved bike paths that meander through scenic city parks or cross purposefully through the city center, there are many facilties for parking one’s bike, whether through cluster parking in all buildings or individual parking in sidewalks. Also, some streets are closed off on Sunday mornings and are open only to pedestrian, bicycle and other human-propelled traffic.

With such attitudes and approaches to human-propelled transport by city officials here it follows that citizens are encouraged to bike in ways that make biking a democratic activity that steers clear of the elitist, my-bike-is-better-than-your-bike mentality that I see -- and am guilty of falling victim to -- in many of my friends back home. Small wonder that they or we remain a small club or clique.