Our Beijing bicycles changed our lives

One of my favorite memories of time with my eldest son Rodrigo was watching the movie Beijing Bicycle together. The 2001 movie, originally titled Shi Qi Sui De Dan Che in pinyin, is full of teenage angst, and the film was a bonding moment for us.

Little did I know that years later, I would be riding my own Beijing bicycle.

When I first came to Beijing, the city seemed gigantic and a bit overwhelming. Shanghai, where we lived for two years, also was big, but we had everything at our fingers in our neighborhood. Transport services were excellent, but in our area, narrow streets and heavy traffic made it dangerous to ride anything with two wheels. Riders often resorted to using the sidewalk.