Gerasimos Bekas assumed that his days of doing something for a dare were behind him – until he decided to get his bike out of the basement and explore the German capital!
What better way is there to explore the city I want to tell you about than by bike? Before I can set off, I always have to perform a ritual comprising a number of steps: I lug my bike up from the basement, pump air into the flat tyres, open up all the locks, pop on my sunglasses and then, finally, climb onto the saddle. My hair flutters in the wind as I leave my Neukölln neighbourhood behind me.On Karl-Marx-Strasse I make my way towards Hermannplatz. A short while ago, the bicycle paths were given coloured lane markings. Even so, they don’t always seem to be having quite the desired effect. I’ve hardly ridden a hundred yards before I have to dismount again: a delivery van is blocking the cycle path. A man is unloading boxes of vegetables, and nods at me. “At least he is friendly”, I think to myself as I ride around the van, using the lane for cars. This manoeuvre is greeted by a chorus of hooting, though I don’t take it too seriously as Berliners really love to toot their horns. I continue on my way.
At least he is friendly
Suddenly I remember why it was that I had put my bicycle back in the basement in the first place. After just ten minutes of touring Berlin on the bike, my body seems to have produced as much adrenalin as if I had done a parachute jump – the kind where the parachute only opens at the third attempt.
I soon get used to doing a slalom around delivery trucks, and even the electric scooters that are lying everywhere do not pose any insurmountable obstacle for me. What does turn out to be a particular challenge, however, are other road users who appear to interpret the traffic light colours more freely than they should. Once I am past Hermannplatz and am cycling along Hasenheide park, I encounter an endless series of potholes and uneven paving. Broken glass puts my tyres at risk, while people who suddenly wander off the pavement and onto the bike path without looking leave my nerves in shreds.At the end of my tether
I reach Gneisenaustrasse and encounter weatherproof jackets, helmets and luxury panniers – I now find myself accompanied by commuters on their bikes. I have been out for 20 minutes, am drenched in sweat and at the end of my tether. Luckily the park at Gleisdreieck isn’t far now. There won’t be any cars there, it’s nice and green, and I can breathe more calmly once again on the disused railway land.I park my bicycle without locking it because, right now, I wouldn’t mind at all if it were stolen. I take a short walk to clear my head. I enjoy watching the squirrels leaping from tree to tree, and take pleasure in the twittering of the birds around me, until it is drowned out by the sound of thumping bass. What I see makes me question whether human civilization is really moving forward: eight men are sitting around a beer barrel on wheels, drinking, smoking, shouting and pedalling. A beer bike, also known as a bar bike, passes me, and I can see from the printed T-shirts the men are wearing that Manni is finally “getting hitched”. It’s a stag party, in other words. What have I done to deserve this? Normally this is the sort of thing you see at Brandenburg Gate or Alexander Platz – if you can’t even escape from such spectacles in a park, where can you?
Lost in my thoughts, I wander back. My bicycle is still there. I think it’s time to buy a helmet.
“Frankly …”
On an alternating basis each week, our “Frankly ...” column series is written by Gerasimos Bekas, Maximilian Buddenbohm, Qin Liwen and Dominic Otiang’a. In “Frankly ... Berlin”, Gerasimos Bekas throws himself into the hustle and bustle of the big city on our behalf, reports on life in Berlin and gathers together some everyday observations: on the underground, in the supermarket Frankly … Berlin, in a nightclub.
November 2019