The Cult of the Bike

That title is no joke, folks. it really is basically a religion here. It's right up there with soccer. Everyone has a bike here. There are a plethora of bike path's, bike racks in front of almost every store, a bike repair shop on every corner.

My host sister told me that "Fahrraeder sind ganz praktisch, oder?" (basically -bikes are super practical, aren't they?). I may have laughed a bit. I fail to see what is so practical about using a bike in the rain or for really long distances in a short time period. I get that using your bike is free and yeah, that is nice. (yes mom, i hear you adding that all that excercise is good for me) But when it is dark and cold and you are biking home- cursing the rain and dark, how practical is it then?

Even with my bike light i have almost hit parked cars and it always seems like something is breaking on it and needs to be replaced. so i have pretty much come to the conclusion that a bike is basically just a really weak sauce car, but at least a car (despite the many things that can go wrong with it) is actually kinda practical- a car even has storage space that is not limited by the size of my backpack.

But at the same time, i find myself falling in line and checking out the newest bike gadgets, riding my bike everywhere... i am feeling disgustingly like a conformist. lol. However, I do have a song to cheer me up here:

although this video is kinda strange so you may potentially feel the need to toke before you watch it- i think it may be the only way to make it less WTF-ish.