Eric's Beijing Diary

Finally bought a bicycle today. I have been on foot for a couple days. I did that before once. It was just after I moved to Beijing in January of 2004. I did look for a bicycle the first week I was in town, but I didn't find exactly what I was looking for. Spring festival started a week later, and everything was closed up for a week, so walking was my primary means of transportation for a couple weeks until I could finally get wheels. I did a lot of walking in those first two weeks, and developed a inflammation of come kind in one of my feet..probably a tendon or something. Anyway, walking was very, very painful. I must have managed to hide it, because students kept telling me how much energy I had. But I was really hurting. As soon as I got my bicycle, the situation changed. Didn't heal right away, but the pain was gone when I was in the saddle and off my feet. Of course, I remembered the injury again as soon as I started walking, but the overall situation had changed, and my body was slowly able to heal.

But it isn't just the injury. Walking is good exercise, but when it comes to the day to day process of living in Beijing, walking is just not time efficient. Without a bicycle, the day becomes longer, and you just don't seem to get much done.

This time, the monster chain lock I bought cost half as much as the bicycle. That thing is very heavy. I have never seen it used on bikes before. Looks like a motorcycle lock. I hate to keep moving in that direction. Bigger locks just call for bigger thieves. But at least it won't be cut by the puny wire cutter they used to cut my cable lock. Cable locks are an invitation to thieves. I let myself be talked into that one because it was cheap. You get what you pay for.