Some of the best news of the past week is that:

• I have Alipay on my phone, so now I don’t have to embarrass myself by using cash.
• I joined a bikeshare plan with HelloBike!
• I have taken about 6 rides in the past week for a total outlay of about $2.

As you can see from the picture, the bike is a total granny bike — single-speed, a seat that’s too low, upright handlebars and hard rubber tires. No inner tubes. But it’s fine, really fine. A granny bike is better than no bike, for sure.

My first time out, I took a trip around the block. Note the wide empty street with no cars. There is very little vehicular traffic on campus. The trickiest part was the transaction. To rent a bike, I pull up the Alipay app and then indicate that I want to use my HelloBike plan. (I bought a two-week plan: For $1, I get 6 rides of up to 30 minutes each. (I am not making this up.) Every bike has a QR code and a GPS tracker. I scan the QR code and the app notes the time and location of the bike. Then the locking mechanism unlocks. I raise the seat post as high as it well go, test the brakes and ride away. It’s pretty straightforward.

Yesterday was the best day of riding for me. The temperature hit 100 degrees during the day, but that didn’t deter me. When it got down to a more reasonable 90 degrees at 7:30 pm, I headed out for a bike ride. My destination was the Olympic Park, 3 miles east of campus.

Beijing is surprisingly bike-friendly. Apparently it’s been bike-friendly for many many years. Nearly all the major roads have wide bike lanes 8-16 feet wide, though they aren’t just for bikes. The bikes share the bike lane with the mopeds and sit-on scooters. There are usually motor scooters whizzing past me. It is a bit nerve-wracking, but it’s better than mixing it up with the cars like I am used to in Ithaca. And there are no potholes here. Ithaca roads can be an obstacle course, especially on the downhills, swerving around the bike-swallowing-size potholes on State St, Stewart Ave and Gun Hill. The roads here are smoooooth.

At the Olympic Park, there were hundreds of people out walking and enjoying the cooler air. It didn’t feel too crowded though because the park is a big place and everyone spreads out.

The buildings are really beautiful. I got to see the Bird’s Nest from afar, and it was quite impressive-looking, especially in the evening light.

My ride was 7 miles altogether. As I was riding, I did a quick survey of helmet-use among cyclists and motor scooter riders. I was wearing a helmet, but I was the only one among the 100-200 bike riders I saw. The motor scooter riders are a bit better, with about 30% in helmets.

On my little field trip to the Olympic Park, I was peddling as fast as I could go and managed to keep up with two riders on real bikes. Of course, they didn’t know that I was chasing them — that’s my competitiveness coming through. I rode as fast as a person can ride on a single-gear granny bike with hard rubber wheels and a basket on the handlebars. I was able to pass some motorized scooters and young guys on bikes too. My legs were spinning out at about 100 rpm and I must have looked ridiculous, but I didn’t care. I was biking and I loved it!