It didn’t matter whether I rode the bike for recreation on the weekends, or for transportation during the week. I always enjoyed riding the bike as a cheap, quick and convenient way to be independent in so many ways. You didn’t have to rely on somebody else, or wait for the bus, you didn’t have to look for parking spaces or wait for hours in traffic jams. At the same time it also felt very natural and made me feel good and in shape, as an added bonus I got to see the beautiful country-sides and breathe some fresh air, too. At that time I haven’t thought much about traffic problems, environmental issues, bike vacations, bicycling advocacy or a subculture revolving around the bicycle. Bicycling was such a natural part of day-to-day living that I didn’t feel overly fanatic about it.
Eventually I was old enough to get my driver’s license. Excited about being able to drive a car I went out to explore more of the world than it was possible on a bicycle before. As it probably happens to a lot of people in the course of their lifetime: the bike slipped into the background and made room for the excitement, enjoyment, convenience, speed and reach of driving a car. Eventually the car became a natural part of day-to-day living.
When I worked in Düsseldorf I sometimes took the car, but commuted by train most of the time. With work days of 8-13 hours plus 2-3 hours for the commute there wasn’t much time to ride bicycles anymore, and it became an activity for weekends. Later I moved to Furtwangen and lived there for a few years. If I didn’t walk to the university or study in my dorm room I was usually on the road to Mönchengladbach or in the air to Baltimore. I didn’t have a bike in Furtwangen, so it completely disappeared from my consciousness for several years. Life became very unhealthy, which I believe is a story a lot of people will probably share with me.
When I moved to Baltimore I started from scratch without owning a car. I didn’t feel like I could afford one and I also looked forward to riding the bike again as a means of transportation and getting back into the shape I lost during the previous years. The first attempts to ride a bicycle for the first time in years were, as expected, very painful and exhausting. The heat and humidity of Baltimore added another layer of difficulty. But more difficult than my fitness and the weather was the new environment I tried to explore on a bicycle or on my feet.
If you move to a new place you will naturally have to get familiar with it first. You can study street maps, look at satellite imagery, or just ride through the neighborhoods and get a feel about the locations and the terrain. I expected this degree of unfamiliarity, but I found other difficulties I never expected before.
I probably was very ignorant by assuming similar circumstances where ever I chose to live, and without any doubt it was a mistake to take traffic, driving habits, signs and signals, sidewalks, bike-lanes, networks of public transportation and bike-routes for granted, and underestimated how large and separated a city can be.
My old hometown was a great place to ride a bike because it was very compact and had everything to offer a cyclist might look for. There not only were a lot of bike-lanes and paths inside of the city, but also outside the city’s borders next to highways and country roads. There not only were highway signs pointing into the direction of the next large city, but also biking and hiking signs leading cyclists along a safe, quiet and often quite beautiful route to a variety of destinations. Without ever having to touch a car or public transportation you could spend hours on bike-routes in the inner city, urban and industrial areas, in parks, fields and forests. You could even leave Germany and ride to Holland which is known as the most bike-friendly country, or leave the city and ride to another.
It always felt safe to ride even if you had to leave the bike-lane and ride in the traffic for a while. The motorized traffic appeared well adjusted to share the road with bicyclists. In elementary and high school you can get a “bicycling license” after riding a short course and demonstrating that you know the traffic rules and how to behave on a bicycle. Later when you get your driver’s license and take the required car or motorcycle driving lessons you learn how to drive in traffic and how to share the road with bicyclists during the day or at night. Both bicyclists and motorists are prepared to get along well with each other in traffic. Many children, families, middle-aged or older people from all backgrounds found traffic safe enough to ride their bicycles to work, shops, playgrounds or whatever destination they want to reach. Bicycling was not exclusive to a small group of fans or professionals.
The new place had been a completely different environment for cyclists. I found hardly any bike lanes, sometimes not even sidewalks…the traffic is much heavier, faster and rougher and felt very unsafe on most roads. Cyclists or pedestrians were not treated with the same rights, but more as an obstacle. And if you ever wanted to get out of the city and ride to one of the parks, trails or to the country side, you had to rely on a car because these places were not connected by bicycle routes or even public transportation. Roads just didn’t appear to be safe for “family-rides”.
Many things could have contributed to this situation: car-centric city planning in the beginning, history and politics, finances or traffic education. Perhaps the huge landmass in comparison to Germany or Holland and the separation of commercial and industrial, residential, retail and entertainment areas that forces people to spend more time commuting from one area to another than they would have if everything was located more closely together. Perhaps a general lack of interest or demand for alternative ways of transportation, socio-economical aspects or even the humidity in the summer could have contributed to the situation, too.
I don’t really know how to explain the different mentality I faced in that traffic. Cyclists and pedestrians were treated as if they didn’t belong in traffic or they were obstacles or simply invisible. Perhaps motorists never learned to share the road with cyclists and were simply not used to them. Perhaps the many distractions presented a problem–when people talk on cell-phones, watch television, drink coffee or eat their lunch while driving instead of giving any attention to what’s happening outside their metallic box.
And with the average speed, roads felt very dangerous. To be honest: I don’t have the nerve to ride a bike on a highway…but that’s how some of the streets felt. Programs like Pace Car could be good start into the right direction. I could go on and fill pages with rants about how often I was cut off by vehicles making their turns although I got a green light or walk signal…how often I got almost hit by somebody who was plugged into his/her cell-phone or not paying any attention…the honks and anger about your existence and daring to slow them down.
But the war and road rage didn’t only take place between motorists and cyclists or pedestrians—but also between one driver and another, “slower” driver. I often witnessed how other drivers got attacked because they stopped somewhere for a second or didn’t start fast enough after the light changed, or because they dared to follow the speed limits. In the past few years I saw it all—I was shocked and amazed about how people behaved in traffic.
I wonder why it is impossible that everybody just gets along in traffic. Doesn’t everybody want to be safe, avoid accidents, or at least protect their investment into their vehicle? But everybody lives in their own little universe. The outside doesn’t matter and just holds them up. I’m not an angry cyclist…I ride safely, defensively and would not start a fight with the “stronger” even if I was right according to the laws. I only wish motorists would recognize cyclists and pedestrians as road users with the same rights to be there, and treat them with more consideration and respect.
Combining cycling and walking with the public transportation system wasn’t easy, too. You could take your bike with you on the light-rail which only goes in north-south direction without any connections to other destinations. Buses had hardly room for passengers and certainly didn’t allow any bikes. [New: Recently there are buses that can take two bikes on a front-rack] In the Washington DC and Virginia area buses could carry up to two bikes, on MARC or VRE trains you could only take folding bikes enclosed in a carrying case.
I once read that DC and Virginia were trying to create a park-and-ride infrastructure that allowed people to use bikes as a valid part of the commute. There is a very good resource available with the Washington Area Bicyclist Association. This site offers commuter assistance, bike-maps, helpful info about bikes on transit, the Pace Car program and more.
I also found a very interesting car-sharing program with zipcar. This program allows you to use cars parked in several nearby locations whenever you need them, paying only by the hour. You don’t have to deal with gas, car insurance, parking or maintenance. I once used a similar service back in Germany before. It is easy, convenient and reasonably priced. In many cases you don’t even have to own a car anymore. If more people showed their interest they might expand their fleet of available cars and expand their service to more locations. Cars as a service when you need it rather than an item you keep all the time whether or not you use or need it. As soon as I have a bike-rack I might rent a zipcar and visit some of the more beautiful trails out there.
There still is a lot that needs to be done and I do hope the situation on the roads will improve and become more reasonable one day. In terms of my immediate personal life I am sure it will take me a few more years, a lot of riding, and the help of others to familiarize myself with the new city and find the best routes to ride.
If you live in the Baltimore City area and happen to look for a biking-buddy please feel free to contact me. I’m always eager to meet like-minded people and somebody to ride with. 
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The Maryland Film Festival takes place annually in Baltimore, usually on the Mother’s day weekend from the opening night party on Thursday to the closing night party on Sunday. It will celebrate its 10th anniversary next year and has grown to a very well-respected event with a nice selection of new local Maryland productions, other interesting short and feature-length films, documentaries, classic cinema and also a few international submissions.
