I have lived in Vienna on and off for the past 2 years, but did not begin cycling until Spring . When I did start cycling, it was at first on the outskirts along the Danube, and not in the city itself. Since having returned to the US this summer, I have become quite comfortable cycling on the roads in Boston. And now that I was going back to Austria, I was curious how I would feel riding around Vienna. Luckily, Anna from
Cycling Is Good for You was happy to help me find out.
This is Anna locking up her bike in front of
Citybiker, the shop where we met up. I first met her earlier this year, when I was living in Vienna on a more long-term basis. She looked fetching in her red polka-dotted knee-socks at the Vienna Naked Bike Ride, and we had since gone out for dinner and kept in touch over email. We planned this ride with a two-fold purpose: For her to test a
Retrovelo, and for me to try cycling around Vienna under her more experienced wing. Originally, the plan was for both of us to ride
Retrovelos, but the frame size they had was slightly too large for me. So she took a
Retrovelo Paul and I took the most interesting bicycle they had in my size - the
Specialized Globe Haul. And there you have it: Paul and Haul were going out for a ride.
Here is Anna heroically carrying Paul up the steps of the courtyard where the bike shop is located. I did that too, but my
Haul was lighter - so not quite as heroic.
Our fist destination was a small park near the Parliament, where we shamelessly took silly photos of each other and the bikes. This is Anna with
Paul.
And here is me with
Haul. I look ridiculously happy, because I am finally cycling!
After a short adventure at the Parliament, we finally set off for real. In layout, the city of Vienna somewhat resembles a flower: The first district is the center, with districts 2-9 arranged around it like flower petals, and the other districts arranged around those. There is a street - the Ringstrasse - that runs continuously around the circumference of the 1st District, and another street - the Guertel - that runs continuously around the wider circumference of the "petals". Both of these circular streets have bike paths that are separated from motorised traffic, making them convenient starting points for getting to any other district of Vienna.
There are also segregated bike paths along the entire length of the Danube Canal and the Danube River itself, forming additional "bike highway" systems that are convenient for many destinations.
Both Anna and I have mixed feelings about the segregated paths. On the one hand, they are safe from motorized traffic - even the intersections and crossings are well-organised, so that it's clear to cyclists and motorists when it's whose turn. My experience in this regard was good. But on the other hand, one is forced to cycle on these paths very slowly, because pedestrians meander onto them without looking. Slow cycling of this sort is enjoyable when sightseeing or going for a nice ride with a friend - but I imagine not so much when you need to actually get to work or to a meeting on time. And since it is mandatory to use the paths when they are present (as opposed to being able to choose between the paths and vehicular cycling), there is no other option for those following these routes.
Our trip around Vienna was fairly well-rounded in terms of what kind of cycling we did. We began nice and slow along the tame paths around the central Ringstrasse and the Danube Canal, transitioned to bike lanes as we ventured further out, and finally transitioned to cycling on larger roads with motorised vehicles.
Here is Anna in front of some wonderful graffiti along the Danube canal. She and Paul made quite a splendid pair!
For reasons of safety, we did not take photos of us cycling on the road with cars - but I will describe that experience as "absolutely fine". I felt very comfortable following Anna, as she gave clear signals that made it easy for me to understand what she was about to do. The cars behaved differently than they do in Boston, but it's hard to describe exactly how. They seemed less freaked out by the fact that we were there, for one thing. But I wouldn't say that they gave us more room than Boston drivers do or slowed down more when passing us. It was equivalent. My only concern about cycling in Vienna, is that both bike paths and bike lanes are mandatory. With the bike lanes this can be especially problematic, because they are sometimes in the door-zone - and when this is the case, the cyclist is not legally allowed to move further out into the road. I wonder how cyclists handle this issue here. In Boston I never cycle in the door zone, and it made me nervous to do so here.
After almost 2 hours out and about,
Paul and
Haul returned to their stables at
Citybiker. They seemed to have had as good of a time as we did. Anna is now seriously considering a Retrovelo, and I wish her the best of luck in her decision! I took lots of detailed shots of both the
Retrovelo Paul and the
Specialized Globe Haul, and will post my thoughts on them later. Thank you, Anna, for a great day!
I have no idea what kind of pine tree the large cone belongs to but the cone is about 14 inches long. The three small cones belong to the Giant Sequoia. The medium sized cone is about the size of a chicken egg. The largest trees in the world have the smallest cones! But within those cones are hidden several hundred seeds which are released during fires – they require the heat in order to open up. Pretty amazing.
Once on top of the ridge, it was an easy walk through open meadows and pretty vistas. That's Big Baldy across the valley.
Once on top of the ridge, it was an easy walk through open meadows and pretty vistas. That's Big Baldy across the valley.
The trail (a 7 mile loop) went down into the valley via a series of long, somewhat steep, switchbacks. It followed a river for a short distance then went uphill the last two miles to the parking lot. Portions of the hike were somewhat strenuous (especially the last two miles) but it was mostly a nice, easy, pleasant walk through the forest, which I enjoyed immensely. Even though there were a lot of people visiting the area and the parking lot was full, I saw only four people on the trail and that was on the final uphill trek.
And so we have weathered the storm. Here in Boston, the general attitude toward Hurricane/ Tropical Storm Irene has mostly been one of sarcasm. Sure, there was some anxiety - stocking up on water and that sort of thing. But for the most part it's been a collective rolling of the eyes, a general feeling that the whole thing was unnecessarily hyped up by the media. One local establishment posted a handwritten sign stating "Closed tomawrah due to wicked bad hurricane!" Other businesses ranted against the public transit system for shutting down - drafting "Closed for the Day Thanks to MBTA" signs explaining that their employees have no way of getting to work - but that otherwise they would have happily remained open.
My own feeling was that the hurricane/ storm was not so much intentionally overhyped, as unpredictable - and there was a conscious decision to err on the side of caution. I also felt that it was insensitive of some to make light of a potentially destructive phenomenon just because it did not cause havoc in their neighbourhood. We live on the border of Somerville and Cambridge, MA, where the storm felt mild - but it did damage even here. Around mid-day Saturday, a large tree toppled over onto a major road around the corner from us, knocking out power lines and blocking part of the street until the city cleared it away. Had anyone been walking, cycling or driving on that side of the street at that exact moment, they could very well have been killed.
Today we carefully cycled around the neighbourhood and discovered more trees uprooted and large branches strewn across side streets.The strange thing is that the wind did not feel all that strong even during the worst of it, so we were surprised to see some fairly large trees knocked over. Does this mean they had shallow root systems?
Powerlines were downed in quite a few places, too. One local coffee shop that decided to stay open lost power on Sunday afternoon, yet remained operational for as long as some pre-brewed coffee remained. Customers would come in and sit with their drinks and pastries in the dark - quite happily, since this was one of the very few places open.
Surveying the damage in our neighbourhood, I think that the calls for caution were justified, even if the storm did not reach hurricane level. Overwhelmingly, motorists chose to stay off the roads here and the streets have been mostly empty - which I am certain accounts for the lack of injuries and casualties, considering the fallen trees and dangling powerlines. Cap'n Transit wrote a post a couple of days ago about the connection between driving and hurricane deaths that is worth reading. 
Padre Island National Seashore
