A Paris cycling adventure

Squeeze through to the bike box

You pedal forward and do your best to keep the bike perfectly vertical. Leaning over to one side or the other could mean scratching someone’s window. Tucking in our elbows to avoid hitting any rearview mirrors, you keep your eye on the bike box ahead. You hope the light doesn’t turn green before you get there, or this herd of sleeping bulls will roar to life and you’ll be sandwiched in the middle of it all.

The light has been red for a while; people are starting to get impatient. You see a car ahead of you inch forward.

A cigarette butt comes flying out of nowhere and lands in your front basket. Startled, you wobble to the left and nearly hit your head on the side mirror of a UPS van. You overcorrect your balance and go careening into a black Mercedes.

You’ve fallen, but there wasn’t really any space to fall so you’re awkwardly pressed up against the Mercedes’ passenger door with your bike frame sort of on top of you. The light has turned green. People are honking and swearing at you in French. You untangle yourself awkwardly from your bike and make your way to the side of the road. The Mercedes has gone shooting off. No damage then, you think.

The Église de la Madeleine is towering over you, a grand behemoth of a church that looks like it could just as easily be a bank or a court of justice or a concert hall. Turning around, you can see the obelisk of Place de la Concorde and, directly aligned, the gold-trimmed building of the Assemblée Nationale. This isn’t such a bad place to park the bike and tour around on foot for a while. After that close call, you could do with a leisurely stroll.

Fin

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Sam Nabi