ON BIKING IN BARCELONA

In Holland, my bike and I were one. Helping me carrying groceries (I LOVED my little pink basket), getting me superfast from A to B (even if it was totally walkable), and always, even after a couple of beers, having a ride home (for free!). As a Dutchie, I can’t live without a bike. Biking was always second nature to me, but boy, it is different here in Barcelona. Fun, but different. Read about my experience here!

 

Why bike in Barcelona?

Not for your health, that’s for sure. The air quality in the metro is probably a lot better than when you’re biking next to several car lanes. It feels however good to move a little, especially when you are not doing any sports (Sports? What’s that? *cough*). It’s also a fun way to explore the city, and sometimes faster than the metro. And if you have your own bike or use Bicing, a lot cheaper as well.

About Bicing

Bicing (from the Catalan bici) is the city’s bike “sharing” system, as an environmentally friendly alternative to the metro and the bus. Memberships costs approx. 45 euros a year and is only available for residents of Spain. It is a lot cheaper than having your own bike; you don’t have to worry about costs of a flat tire or theft. It’s also very practical for one-way rides; I always take the metro in the morning to go to work, because I’m sleepy and I don’t feel like biking uphill. When I go home, I like to go home by bike, because it’s downhill, the weather is often good and I finally get to move after sitting the whole day. But if it’s raining (or “cold”/windy/whatever), I can just take the metro home again.

It is however a system with limits. It is only meant for short rides; if you bike longer than half an hour, you have to pay a mini fine (and after several “violations” your card can be blocked). From my new job, it takes me about half an hour to get home by bike, which results into superfast aggressive bike behavior, driving through red as much as possible, and avoiding millions of obstacles like old people, dogs and kids. Definitely NOT a relaxed way home and not to mention pretty dangerous. But more annoying is the lack of availability of bikes and parking spaces. Mostly, when I’m off from work (at the same time as the rest of Barcelona), there is not a single bike available in the area. And when I’m lucky to catch one, there’s no parking space in the area where I live.

“Gosh Pauline… Why don’t you just buy a bike?” Unfortunately, we don’t have space to store a bike at home (it will get stolen if you leave it outside at night) and there are hardly any bicycle parking options around town. For now, I’ll stick with Bicing, but I think I’ll definitely look for a folding bike or something at some point…. I waaaant my own bike!

Where to bike?

Biking towards Torre Agbar on my way home from work.

That’s a good question. Actually, Barcelona is quite suitable for cycling: it’s relatively flat and there are some good bike paths here and there. It does feel a little unnatural that the bike lanes are on the left (in Holland you always have to bike on the right), and often the path just ends somewhere in the middle and you have to figure out where to go:

Option 1: squeeze your tiny Bicing bike in between racing cars, risking your life (because cars are not used to this and often don’t see you), pissing off car drivers.

Option 2: take the side walk, where your way is constantly blocked by running children, running dogs an immobile old people (that get the scare of their lives when you slowly pass by); also, you’re pissing everyone off.

So if you found a bike path: Congratulations. But keep in mind that the concept of “bike path” isn’t really integrated yet in Spain. Again, you’ll find a lot of children, dogs and old people, happily using it as an extension of their walking area. Here it’s important to use the bell and keep your pace: we have to teach people that cyclists have rights too!

Enjoy the ride

Last week, on my way home.

Even though biking conditions are maybe not 100% perfect (let me remind you that I’m from Groningen, also referred to as The World’s Cycling City), it is really a great way to explore the city. I already enjoy my daily ride home, biking on Diagonal surrounded by palm treas, seeing the church at Tibidabo in the distance, passing by Sagrada Familia and Torre Agbar, driving through Parc del Clot, and passing by cool street art. It’s amazing how much you can see from the city in a half an hour drive. 

Street art in Clot, where I pass by every day.

Chris and I sometimes take the bike on Sundays just to bike around and see other neighborhoods. Once we went to la Mina, also known as the “ghetto” of Barcelona, just to check out how bad it really was. It looked okay at first sight, on a sunny Sunday afternoon, but it soon changed as we saw more piles of trash and some odd figures (looking like gangsters from the seventies, really). We had a similar strange experience when we biked to shopping mall La Maquinista. We had to bike through a deserted industrial area, no one around, except for a crying woman in a car… I wouldn’t necessarily recommend biking through these kinds of areas, but it’s kind of interesting seeing different parts of the city, even if they are not so attractive as the touristic neighborhoods. 

Best ways to bike is over wide streets with bike lanes and boulevards, maybe avoiding narrow overcrowded areas like Gótico. It is definitely nice biking next to the beach (is there a better feeling!?), exploring different neighborhoods like Gràcia or go crazy and bike up Montjuïc or Tibidabo for some great views. 

In short, biking in Barcelona is a fun, active and not to mention cheap way to explore the city, whether you’re a tourist who only has a day to see the best of Gaudí or a local interested in rediscovering this beautiful city.