LIFE IN THE SADDLE

"There are nine million bicycles in Beijing, that's a fact," sang Georgian-British folk-pop musician, Katie Melua, in 2005. These days it's, arguably, more than that. For decades, one of the most enduring images of the nation's capital has been the multitude of cyclists, thronging the grand boulevards of downtown, and the narrow hutong that spread like a web from the city's center.

The "click, click, click" of bicycle chains, and the high-pitched squeaking of brakes, is as much a part of the soundscape of the bustling city as the beeping of horns and constant hum of construction and progress.

And you know what? These freewheeling folks are definitely on to something. It would be virtually impossible to feel down when the light autumn breeze draws through your hair as you pedal languidly along one of the capital's many canal side pathways, across which the shadows of leaves stir in the low sun of the afternoon.

Witnessing a boom in the recreational cycling culture among the population in Beijing in recent years, one day, I decided to get some hands-on experience by joining a group of bikers to cruise the city, following a route that would take me to many of the must-see spots within the city's Third Ring Road.

The cycling tour was a regular activity organized by RE, a company that seeks to promote cycling as a hip urban lifestyle.

That day, some of the participants rode bikes of distinctive styles and colors. From time to time, some of them cycled ahead of me, a newcomer to their gathering, to exchange small talk. After a while, they would speed off into the distance.

The smell of pagoda trees that line the ancient alleys lingered on as I rode. The dazzling descending sun overwhelmed me with its generous tenderness and saturated all the landmark buildings that we passed by, including the Zhengyangmen watchtower where I saw swallows in groups darting through the air and the glistening egg-shaped building of the National Centre for the Performing Arts.

All the scenes introduced an ethereal calm until we started to ride downhill into an underground section of the cycling path.

In gravity's grip, my bike soon sped up and I braced my forearms to keep it under control.

"Isn't it awesome?" Wang Yiou, a fellow cyclist, asked me as we stopped at an intersection.

Realizing that she was talking about the adrenaline rush brought on by the long descent, I replied with a loud "yes" without the least hesitation.

Two years ago, it was a similar cycling city tour that changed the stereotypical view Wang had held for a long time about bikes.

A Beijing native, Wang's earliest memory of biking went back to her childhood, when her mother would perch her on the front of a bike and take her to kindergarten. As she grew older, Wang got her own bike and rode it to the primary school every weekday.

"After school, I had to search for my own bike among heaps of others that were similar in appearance at the parking lot near the school's gate," she recalls.

Back then, a bike was simply a popular means of transportation in Beijing, she says.

In early 2020, the city started to embrace a resurgence of nonmotorized transportation following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Against that backdrop, Wang bought her first retro-style folding bike and joined a bikers' group.

"I found that it's much more than a means of transportation. Sometimes it's an entrance ticket to a larger social circle," she says.

Wang discovered that bike owners would share ideas about how to embellish their bikes using stylish accessories, head in twos or threes to a newly opened cafe deep inside a hutong (alley) to sip a drink and have breakfast together after a morning ride.

"Cycling enables me to explore the city at a cozy pace," she says, noting that walking is usually slower, yet traveling in a car can be too quick for people to get a real feel for a place and notice the detailed changes happening around them.

"You can touch, smell, feel and engage all your senses during a bike ride. Sometimes it can be a touching experience to know about the city where I grew up on a bike," she says.

Gratified to stay with congenial cyclists, Wang decided to launch a club exclusive to female bikers that could gather groups of women for other pastimes such as flower arrangements in addition to cycling tours.

Shortly after she posted the club's recruitment information on the lifestyle-sharing platform Xiaohongshu, more than 500 users messaged her, expressing their eagerness to be counted in.

Wang has also been sharing video clips of her cycling trips, as well as recommending routes, clothing and gear on the online platform, aiming to become an influencer in the field.

Fanatical about cycling, she shows a friendly, relaxed demeanor to anybody curious about the sport, or the lifestyle. I was no exception. I got good vibes from her and knew that the warmhearted woman wanted me to feel the enchantment of cycling as she did when she first started to take it seriously.

Upon reaching the Wumen Gate of the Palace Museum, we stopped to park our bikes, ready to take a group photo with other bikers in front of the landmark. There I met Luo Yuan, CEO of RE, the company that sells elaborately designed bikes, helmets and gear, and provides catering services that are friendly to riders and their bikes. For instance, riders can park their bikes at RE's catering franchise locations.

Luo rode a road bike in bright red, and immersed herself among other cyclists at the gathering.

She says a welcoming atmosphere within RE's cycling community is important for its growth. Currently, the company has a network of more than 20,000 cyclists in Beijing, most of whom are also its customers.

"During the pandemic, people's pursuit of a healthier lifestyle has helped reignite the public's passion for cycling," Luo says.

The company is surely among the beneficiaries of the changing urban mobility pattern. In the first half of this year, its bikes registered a year-on-year sales growth of 120 percent.

She says riding a bike helps her to get out of negative moods, and she believes that its growing prevalence can also relieve any anxiety from which people may suffer.

Allen Li, another frequent rider, says that cycling has brought a new perspective to her once-lackluster everyday life.

Since buying a pair of bikes in May, Li and her husband have been regularly going on bicycle rides together to Universal Beijing Resort, the Tongzhou section of the Grand Canal and other tourist attractions in Beijing after work.

Li started to ride simply because she wanted to try a moderate exercise that was not monotonous. Soon she became interested in cycling, which enabled her to be outdoors and explore new sites.

She recalls the first time she felt the ineffable joy of outdoor activity.

"That day, we hit the canal in Tongzhou district. The warm breeze whispered its way across the surface of water and through the grassy riverbank. It greeted me with a pleasant smell. At that moment, I was pretty sure that the best perfume we can use to flavor our lives is the scent of nature," she says.

Not all participants in RE's cycling tours own a bike. Many of them choose to rent one or ride the shared bikes that are ubiquitous in the city.

After all, at the top of the agenda for a hip urban cycling lifestyle is not to own a set of wheels that is enjoyable to ride, but the ride itself.

CHINA DAILY