Shanghai Bike Polo

Last week, my English friend Yanis and I set out across Shanghai in search of a place to play a bit of pick-up polo.  I was fiending for a game, even a game of one on one, as I hadn't had a chance to play since leaving Australia.  So while Yanis had never even heard of bicycle polo before meeting me, much less played, he was still keen to have a go if we could find a place.  So he on his ladies cruiser with a front basket and rear luggage carrier and me on my Giant ATX cheap Chinese mountain bike, we set out in search of a smooth, flat surface.  

Heading north through the city, we reached the river before I realized I'd forgotten the ball.  Unimpressed with what we saw heading north, I suggested we head south from the hostel.  It turned out to be a great idea.  With the tower of Isengard in the distance (see the pointy spire rising upwards into the sky), we found the perfect, rounded, recessed surface; a place seemingly made for bicycle polo. 

The court, a public square (circle) in front of the Metropolitan Theatre, seemed an unlikely place to have a polo match.  It was too open, too public.  But as Yannis and I observed a half dozen skateboarders grinding the marble stairs we thought, all things considered, smashing a small rubber ball around and off the steps would be fairly harmless.   

Turns out we were right...sort of.  That day, as Yanis and I rode around playing one on one, the police and local security guards all passed us by.  None of them gave us a thought, much less a look.  The people who did give us a hard glance were mostly intrigued.  And so it was with great joy that I texted Tyler with the news that I'd found a fantastic, central spot to play some polo.

Tyler created a post detailing the space and calling for a session on the upcoming Sunday.   The stage was set for epic bike polo. 

And then the police showed up.  

Actually, it was the security guards who turned up first, blowing their whistles and speaking Shanghainese at me.   I didn't have to pretend I didn't understand.  But as more polo freaks turned up, polo freaks who could speak Shanghainese, it became clear that they wanted us gone.  

It wasn't necessary to speak Mandarin or Shanghainese to understand that this guy wanted my bike off the court.  Or maybe he just wanted to have a go at polo.  

It worked out quite well that the skateboarders stuck around until the police turned up.  I think it was their complicity in clearing the court that made it possible for us to stick around.  

So while skateboarding is not a crime, it turns out bike polo is less of a crime.  

At any rate, being the insolent non-conformists we are, us polo peeps didn't follow orders.  We instead stuck around until the 5-0 buzzed off.  Which meant we played some polo. 

  

Tyler has a full re-cap of the day, complete with a couple videos here.   In both videos you can watch as Rich, riding an orange fixed gear, takes me out.  Legal contact?  You decide.

Jue Hou also took some amazing photos of the day, the last two of the above set being a representative sample.   

One of the best parts of bicycle polo, in my opinion, is its ability to appeal to a variety of people.  When I turned up to polo in Melbourne, I saw a couple of older men--gray hairs, as it were (no offense, Pete!)--rolling around the court smashing the ball.  It was amazing to see older and younger people enjoying the game in a healthy spirit of competition.  When I arrived here in Shanghai, I was again pleased to see that one of the younger fellows, Nelson, had both his parent's turn up to the polo match.  Chris, Nelson's father, is pictured below.

Chris was fantastic at polo.  He rolled up to the polo match on his tricycle, which you can see on Tyler's blog, carrying the cones and assorted other polo equipment--along with his polo bike, of course.  He had such a nice style of play, bumping shoulders when necessary and shooting through gaps where possible, and he heckled me with relentless enthusiasm.  While bike polo is still primarily a sub-cultural realm dominated by bike messengers and bike freaks across the world, it's inspiring to see non-traditional bike people taking up the sport.  Here's to more diversity on the court! 

Interview on Colombia National Public Radio

A couple days back, I did an interview with the good people from Colombian National Public Radio.  Among other things, we talked about bicycle use in China and the emergence of the Electric Bike.   Have a listen and enjoy! 


Stream it here



Download the Audio

Or, read some Text en espanol.

The Reason We Didn't Play Bike Polo in Beijing

Commitment

Among the many things my travels have shown me, I have seen that a goodly number of my American bike friends simply don't believe the United States can create world class bicycle cultures. 

Now, you may know I'm from Memphis.  Memphis.  The place where we travel 26 miles per day in a car  (see page 4D-1); the town that didn't have a single mile of bike lane until three years ago...You know, it's that southern city voted among the three worst places for bicycling in the United States.

Memphis.  

Now, my friends and family have remained steadfast in reminding me why the City of Memphis is so far behind for bikes, so I've become well-versed in the arguments about why we'll never be a world class bike city.   



Bike lanes are expensive.  Our cities are already strapped for cash, and in the current fiscal crisis why should we expect our political leaders to designate money for bicycle infrastructure?  It simply costs too much.   

Fortunately, this is a myth.  Bicycles are always the winner in a cost benefit analysis, as our friends at Bicycle Victoria show us here. 


Even the Copenhagen style lanes recently installed on Swanston St. in Melbourne, at a cost of $550,000 AUD for approximately 2 kilometers, is still a fraction of the cost required to create a similar stretch of car lane (see above link).  Given that bicycle lanes have the capacity to accommodate up to 8 times more users per unit of land used than do car lanes, a simple cost/benefit analysis shows that bicycle infrastructure is the more fiscally prudent expenditure per person.  And I didn't even mention the revenue generated by savings on public health costs. 

But maybe you've heard this one: the distances are too great in the United States.  We'll never be able to get where we need to go on a bike because we simply have too far to go.  Actually, 40% of trips made in America are less than 2 miles, and 80% of these trips are done in a personal motor vehicle.  Think about our Western world bicycle models, Amsterdam and Copenhagen.  Approximately 37% of all trips made in these cities each day are done on a bicycle.  If Americans focused on taking the bike for the short trips--the trips of 2 miles or less--our cities might boast bicycle commuting numbers similar to those of Western Europe's bike culture crown jewels. 

Now I know you've heard this one: it's the weather.  It's too hot, or too cold, or too rainy to expect people will ever use the bicycle for a commute.  I mean, you people in Memphis are freezing right now, right?  17 degrees Fahrenheit a couple days ago (-8 Celsius)?   While it would be foolish to argue that the average person enjoys riding a bicycle in freeing rain, many studies conclude that weather has less of an impact on ridership than is speculated.  None of the studies go so far as to say weather is not important.  In fact, 33% of Copenhageners report that rainy days are the most influential factor in their decision to take the bus (see page 12).  Still, weather is not an impenetrable barrier to the creation of bicycle cultures. 

But still...it's dangerous to ride a bike in traffic.  Those drivers out there--they're just out of control.  And the drivers in (insert your city name here) are the absolute worst!  How can I be expected to jeopardize life and limb just so I can ride a bike...and for God's sake it's 17 degrees Fahrenheit?!    

Unfortunately, a large part of the problem in America is traffic safety.  The average person does not feel safe riding their bicycle on an American roadway...even over a distance of 2 miles.  As scholars John Pucher and Lewis Dijkstra report, "the neglect of pedestrian and bicycling safety in the United States has made these modes dangerous ways of getting around.  Pedestrian fatalities are 36 times higher than car occupant fatalities per km traveled, and bicycling fatalities are 11 times higher than car occupant fatalities per km."     

 

Perhaps at this point, we can call upon on an old Danish fisherman's adage to frame the way we might deal with this substantial barrier to bicycle riding: "there's no such thing as bad weather," the saying goes, "just bad clothes." 

More than a cheeky, "suck-it up" catch phrase from some smarty-pants Dane, the phrase reflects a commitment and determination to find solutions to seemingly built-in barriers and contextual limitations.   

The problem of safety, as with many of the other barriers listed above, is not a permanent feature of urbanized human civilization.  It can, in fact, be overcome through a commitment to creating safe bicycle cities.  In a paper released this past year, Pucher and his co-authors Jennifer Dill and Susan Handy report "Berlin, for example, almost quadrupled the number of bicycle trips between 1970 and 2001 and doubled the bicycle share of trips from 5% in 1990 to 10% in 2007. In spite of the sharp rise in bicycling, serious injuries in Berlin fell by 38% from 1992 to 2006. In only six years, the bicycle share of trips within the City of Paris more than doubled from 1% in 2001 to 2.5% in 2007. The bicycle share of trips in Bogota (Colombia) quadrupled from 0.8% in 1995 to 3.2% in 2006. The total number of bicycle trips in London doubled between 2000 and 2008, while bicyclist injuries fell by 12% over the same period. Amsterdam raised the bicycle share of trips from 25% in 1970 to 37% in 2005; serious bicyclist injuries fell by 40% between 1985 and 2005. From 1995 to 2003, the bicycle share of trips in Copenhagen rose from 25% to 38% among those aged 40 years and older. Yet, there was a 60% decline in serious injuries."  

In short, not only is it possible to get more people on bicycles more often, but making bicycle travel a tenable possibility for the average person creates safer road conditions in urban areas.  As for domestic numbers, this site shows us that Minneapolis, one of the coldest urban areas in the U.S., almost doubled it's mode share from 2007-2008. 

So how did they do it?  How did these cities across the globe, from a variety of cultures and over a slew of geographical landscapes, make bicycle use a tangible possibility for their populace?  

Pucher's paper attempts to answer this question.  He points to dozens of strategies from around the globe that have been used to increase bicycle travel.  Have a look...I found it quite refreshing to see so many different kinds of strategies all presented together, explained in detail and evaluated empirically for their effectiveness.  

His conclusions?  It wasn't infrastructure, education, or marketing that made the difference.  It was, in fact, all of these and none of these factors concurrently. 



There can be no silver bullet for creating bicycle cultures, and Pucher warns us against blindly applying the same policy prescriptions in Copenhagen that you would use in Memphis: "the very same infrastructure provision, program, or policy might have different impacts on bicycling in different contexts, making it risky to generalize about the effectiveness of any individual measure."  

Pucher confirms what most of us know on a gut level: it's neither bike lanes nor bike tracks nor ride to school programs alone that promise to increase the overall level of bicycling in a city.  Rather, it's a commitment to pursuing a variety of context sensitive strategies aimed at making bicycling a possibility for the average person.  

It's commitment.  And commitment means finding the opportunities within each barrier rather than simply focusing on the barrier itself.  Weather, for example, changes.  Some days are beautiful for riding a bike while others are abysmal.  In Melbourne two days ago it was 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit).  Today, it's 19 (66.2). 



The point then, and ironically this is perhaps why my American friends have felt challenged by models around the world, is that a commitment to identifying barriers to bike culture growth is perhaps the most important step in sparking that growth.  

Educating ourselves about how cities across the globe have used bike tracks, environmental concerns, sharrows, cycling education and bike design manuals to effectively overcome weather patterns, geography, lethargic lifestyles and cultural intolerance to bicycle travel holds the key to the future of bicycle cultures in America.     

So while it's important to debate which kinds of interventions work best, I'm contending that it is un-helpful to argue that *some* kind of intervention can create the same kinds of world class bicycle cultures in America found in Copenhagen and Amsterdam.  

This differentiation, this distinction between innovation and stagnation, is the difference between cities that have and have not committed to moving by bike.

"Value DNA"

Recently, this blogger made comments with regards to the state of bicycle advocacy in the U.S.  In the post, I created the following heading:

"America Lacks not for Best Practices (in bicycle planning); We Lack Political Will" 

Among the most important tasks before American bicycle advocates today, in my estimation, is the need to develop a strong base of political support amongst policy makers and money appropriators for increased bicycle infrastructure.  Even a cursory look at the cities where one-third or one-half of the people go by bicycle each day reveals a sophisticated network of protected bicycle infrastructure that was funded by the national government and/or the local municipality.  And conversely, a glance at cities where there are few bicycles in the street and almost no infrastructure reveals a lack of municipal leadership for creating a bike friendly city.  


This is why the bicycle advocacy community will need political will if we intend to increase the number of bicycles in America's roadways. 



I don't think I'm underestimating the challenge when I describe the work ahead of us in this way.  We're talking about some serious social change here, and social change is tricky business.  


So perhaps I should be clear: I'm not saying there is one method or strategy that will lead to the cultivation of a strong bike culture in the U.S.  We'll need infrastructure alongside education, bike lanes and educated cyclists and drivers.  Such educated people are in fact the very folks that can help to develop political will. 



Yet at the end of the day, catalyzing political will is in my opinion the critical component required to make bicycling into a common activity in America.  In response to this claim, and in response to my recent travels, a reader sent me the following comments.     

I just returned from cycle touring in France (Normandy, Seine River Valley, Paris) and England (London and countryside near Manchester).  My observation is that the culture of Denmark, northern Germany and the Netherlands related to transportation, social good, an individual's place in the society, life balance and material goods is considerably different than that of the Anglo-Saxon culture.

The following comments are especially significant, I think: 

 Realistically we in America are not going to experience a culture shift that moves us more than infinitesimally closer to Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany.  It's not about political will, it is about who we are and who we are not. Sorry, but we just don't have the same value dna.

As the reader above states, the individual's place in society, the transportation options available to the individual, and the idea of "social good" are all ways by which to measure a society's values.  

But the *literal value* a society places on each of these things can be measured by municipal investment.  In the case of bike infrastructure in Denmark and the Netherlands, it was the municipality--bolstered by the social movements for increased bike infrastructure organized in the wake of the 1970's oil crisis--that began to put a dollar value on their town's ability to be bike friendly. 

Put simply, while you cannot change your DNA, you can change a society.  

When the municipalities of Copenhagen and Amsterdam began to invest too heavily in car infrastructure in the 1960s, advocacy groups organized demonstrations and mobilized thousands in these medieval city squares.  This is not because the Danes and the Dutch have different value DNA; it's because commuting by bike is more practical than going by a car.  

They organized because they didn't want to see their cities consumed by motor vehicles, pushing the people farther and farther away from their Gothic spires. 

They mobilized because they believed the oil crisis was a warning that an over-reliance on fossil fuels could be politically problematic.  

They did not gather in the thousands in their public squares because they had certain ideas about the individual's place in society; they organized because they wanted bike paths that took them to work more quickly.  

My reader goes on:      

...I think I see in England a changing model that is more akin to what we face in America.  The English (can't speak for the Scots, Irish or Welsh) have a love affair with individual motorized vehicles for personal transport.  As compared to Europe, their cars are bigger, more powerful, more in use and more per capita (with the exception of maybe Germany, Swiss) and their roads are more narrow, winding, and less direct.  There are virtually no separate and safe hard paved cycle paths (although there is a growing route system).  I see the cyclists and motorists in England at a pressure point today.  The cycling community voices the same statements and beliefs of the right to the road, the benefits to individuals and society and the need for action as we do in the US.  The motorists voice the same statements and beliefs of right to the road, safety, taxes paid, and cyclist's behavior that we do in the US.  And although there are more bicyclists using roads in England than in the US, they are moving the culture needle very much.  In London there are a lot of cyclists (certainly not like northern Europe) but they are brave, brave souls in commuting spandex (fenderless road bikes or fold up Bromptons where the rider commutes in bike jersey and riding pants then changes at the place of work rather than commuting in work clothes) who mix with the car, London taxi, bus with trepidation.  There are some bike lanes but mostly it's pedaling between the curb and the vehicle.  And the folks are not just the hardcore bikers, but nurses, administrators, etc.  They are just much more brave than I would be.

In so many ways, I think here we can see the symptoms of a strategy that has not and will not work in America.  

I agree that a "transitioning" bicycle culture might provide a helpful model for the United States (see Australia), but the idea that one needs to be brave to ride a bicycle in a U.S. city--or any city--is a problem.  

Bicyclists are not crazy, and they are not super heroes (complete with their own skin-tight suits!).  They are simply bicyclists.  And it doesn't do anyone any good to remain obsessed with fear. 

I can say this from having ridden both in medieval cities--where buses, motor scooters, taxis, pedestrians and bicycles are competing for very limited space--and in the big American cities, where space is abundant though bicycles are not.  

I didn't necessarily feel "safer" riding in one or the other.  In fact, I was hit by a car for the first time in Amsterdam two weeks ago! (It was a minor crash and it certainly wasn't my fault--but thanks for your concern.)  

In sum, neither bravery nor social values will make America into a strong bicycle culture.  It will instead be advocates who make the good arguments and make better connections.  It will be communities organized around a message of how cycling can bring our communities closer together, people who articulate to political leaders how cycling is good for both the individual and the society.  

Developing political will is hard work, much harder I think than settling with the idea that Western Europeans have different "value DNA" than Americans; but it's good work.  

Perhaps most importantly, I believe this is the work before us in America.    

Car Free Sunday in Amsterdam

Car Free Sunday was surprisingly not so car free in Amsterdam. Sure there were a ton of activities celebrating the myriad modes of alternative transportation, but there were also a lot of "bio" cars showcased throughout the city. I participated in a parade sponsored by the Fietsersbond that was half bikes and half cars powered by non petroleum based fuels. To be fair, I think the day was also designated as "clean air day," but it was nonetheless ironic to ride a bicycle next to cars in a car free day parade.

I eventually peeled off from the parade to join up with the fixed gear guys and gals to spend the afternoon playing bicycle polo. Some fellows from Arnhem, Netherlands brought a proper polo court and we had a 4 or 5 hour tournament. One of them made this nice little video showcasing the tournament and car free day:

Car Free Sunday in Amsterdam. from cavin on Vimeo.

Because my team lost in the first round and never got to play again, I had plenty of time to make a few pictures at the tournament. I was, however, flattered when later in the tournament I was asked to stand in for one of the oldest bike messengers in the city (Fish). Our team lost again, but hey, bike polo aint easy.
The proper court in all of its glory. Metal Madness. The Bad Brains were playing quite a bit this afternoon, interspersed with some Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg from time to time for good measure. Ah, it felt almost like home: punk rock and gangsta rap! Lester is picture in the foreground here with the blue disc wheel. The man can play some polo, yall. He also has a frame building internship at RIH, a local framebuilding company here in Amsterdam. This in addition to his responsibilities as a bicycle messenger with Infinity Express. Marc from Amsterdamize on a fixed gear. Who would have thought this day would come? At least he doesn't own the bike. In fact, I think he rode it just for the publicity.
This fellow, from Arnhem, was ticketed for taking a leak in the canal. Happens to the best of us, I suppose.
South African James gettin' some play.
Sipe, whose arm is pictured here, later went to the hospital for the injuries he sustained on this fateful afternoon.
Packing up the polo court at day's end.

***************************************************************************

After the polo tournament, we headed to the Pristine Fixed Gear Shop to take a look at some pictures made of the fixie kids.

Here are a couple of note (mostly because I'm in them ;):
This is a picture of a picture, but you can still see me to the right, glancing down at who knows what. It was gettin' kinda crazy by this point....
This was my fierce look. To my right is an Australian fellow, while behind me is Fish, a really nice guy and a pretty famous European messenger. Fish has worked in major cities across the world delivering stuff on his bike.

And finally, the picture you've all been waiting for:
Last night, after polo, we headed to the Centuirbaan Squat. The squat has a give away store (GAS), and this was what happened when we started digging through the piles.

Among my finer moments, I do say.

Notes on Bicycle Advocacy

For some weeks now, I've wanted to make a post with some general observations about the differences between bicycle advocacy where I come from and the the places that I'm traveling through.

Be warned, though: this is not a thoroughly researched, well documented article about the history of bicycle advocacy in America or Europe. Rather, these are a few limited observations made during more than two months spent studying bicycle cultures in Europe.

1. Staying Positive:

Most of the advocacy I have seen in Denmark and the Netherlands has been oriented at *increasing* the positive benefits across the social spectrum which are accrued from more bicycling. One simple example is a statistic from Denmark which the Danish Cycling Federation put together: for every kilometer bicycled in Denmark, the government actually earns one Danish Crown. This is a particularly poignant political argument for fiscal conservatives as it demonstrates the returns on bicycle investment. Sure it costs money to create bicycle infrastructure; in today's world, it costs money to do almost anything! But the returns on bicycle investments are quite good.

2. Name the Goal, not the Step.

I actually read this in a zine I picked up while haunting a local squat here in Amsterdam. It was a zine about computer technology, of all things, but I think it is a good way of positing a solution to a common problem with bicycle advocates. Installing new bike parking is not the goal, it is the step. An increase in bicycle lanes is not the goal, it is the step. A healthier society is the goal. A city that can move its people with increased efficiency and care, that is the goal. The goal, I think, can compel and inspire people to get out on a bike, which is more powerful than arguments for increased spending on blue stripes in the roadway. For effective advocates, the work before us goes beyond the bicycle, and it should be clearly stated that bike advocates are about more than increasing the number of people on bicycles.

I think this point chafes the sensibilities of bicycle enthusiasts because for so many of us, the bicycle in itself is a powerful tool for social and personal liberation. But the time for preaching to the choir has come and gone. Reaching more people requires broadening the message.

3. Eco-guilt and Slim Bodies Won't Cut it

What is the number one reason people bicycle in Denmark? Ease and convenience. In the Netherlands? 7.2 of 10 people say they are satisfied with the network of bicycle tracks throughout the city. This is a pretty good satisfaction rate for bicycle infrastructure.

A well developed, easy to use system of designated paths is critical to making cycling attractive. Public health, eco friendliness and sustainability, I would argue, are the by-products of bicycle cultures built around convenience. This is a point that should not be lost, because providing convenient and efficient transportation to a municipality's citizenry is in many ways as important as providing fire and ambulance services. Vehicular mobility often determines social mobility, and cities with limited vehicular mobility are often cities with limited social mobility as well. Bicycle paths, then, can be seen as a noble service provided to citizens.

4. America Lacks not for Best Practices; We Lack Political Will

The culture wars, I would argue, are one of the reasons bicycling has enjoyed little progress in America. I think advocates and cyclists alike often fail to use the bicycle as a political tool to bridge the divide between social conservatism and social liberalism. I've observed many of the most passionate bicycle lovers are bent on destroying the car culture in the U.S.; or bent on shoveling out the old guard of traffic engineers in favor of newer, hipper, more enlightened engineers.

Let's get real. The car culture will change in coming years, for sure, but the goal of bicycle advocates should not be to promote its demise. The same is true with the field of traffic engineering.

To focus on the ways in which the bicycle is a unifying force, the ways in which it acts as an egalitarian tool to increase the opportunity for all peoples is, to me, a much more politically sensible approach to effective advocacy. As long as an "us (bikes) vs. them (cars and the engineers/politicians/companies that promote them!)" mentality pervades bicycle advocacy, our single speed wheels will continue to spin and want for political traction.

Me? I'm hoping to encourage the car companies--perhaps in an effort to win some nice publicity for a change--to start a small grants program aimed at increasing effective bicycle advocacy. Refreshing but impossible, you say? Keep an open mind. You'd be amazed at what is possible.

So let's discuss. What, in your estimation, has led to the bicycle's trivial role in American society. This list is not exhaustive, and it certainly needs some improvement.

Weigh in!