There’s bikes, and… there’s bikes.

My husband thinks I hate bikes. I don’t hate bikes, I like them… a normal amount. I can ride a bike, but I don’t own one. My daughter owns a bike, and I have no problem with her riding it, as long as she wears her helmet. However, I won’t allow her (as long as I can control that) to become one of them.

Allow me to backtrack a little: when I lived in Copenhagen, I was used to seeing lots of bikes on the road. It was somewhat surprising that so many people would use a bike as a mean of transportation in the dead of winter in Copenhagen (it’s really, really cold), however it is also true that it was completely flat, which made it almost ideal for traveling by bike. Of course the fact that it was flat also allowed the constant wind to sweep the streets for miles and miles and I just couldn’t see myself riding a bike against the wind (have I mentioned it was really, really, really cold?).

It never fails to surprise me, however, how many people choose a bike as their mean of transportation in Zurich. There are lots of hills in Zurich, and trams, and though it’s not nearly as cold as Copenhagen or anywhere in Scandinavia, it still gets pretty cold in winter. How do hills and trams and intense cold spell “good biking”???

Not to mention that said trams are part of a very efficient public transportation system, possibly the most efficient in the world. And trams and buses in Zurich don’t use gas, so they are very eco-friendly. So where exactly is the appeal of the bike?

To each his own, right? I shouldn’t care so much how many people choose to bike. It’s good exercise, after all.

No, I shouldn’t care. However, the majority of bikers on the road happen to be in violation of road rules 90% of the time. They don’t wear helmets, they zigzag through cars, they see a red light and just keep going. And they are everywhere. Every frigging day, just bringing Sarah to school and driving home, I pass between 5 and 10 bikers. All of them without a helmet. Most of them pass red lights. Some of them zigzag through traffic. Every.Frigging.Day.

So I care. Because if something happens and they collide with my car, even if it’s their fault, I will be in trouble, because, well, I guess car trumps bike. Even if bike belongs to a jackass who runs red lights all the frigging time.

And Sarah sees these people. And I don’t want her to get the idea that it is ok to do all those things. It’s hard to explain to a child that something is wrong when she sees so many people doing it.

“I thought you liked bikes” my husband says to me. “I like motorbikes” I reply. “What’s the difference?” Uhm, where do I start? You need a license to drive a motorbike? People on motorbikes use helmets and can move faster out of the way in case of danger? Not to mention that motorbikes are just cooler Let’s use visuals, shall we?

Yeah, that’s the same.