| Bicycles have emerged as one of
few ways to bypass traffic and distribute goods and services
to the public.
Ice and Coca-Cola trucks have been replaced by hefty bicycle
carts capable of carrying so much stacked on the front that
some daring drivers have to look around their cargo to see where
they're going.
Each day as the city awakes, fleets of bicycle carts leave
bakeries to deliver the morning bread, and messengers roll through
downtown to begin the city's morning business communications.
In residential neighborhoods peddlers offer convenient while-you-wait
knife sharpening services from bicycles with small grinders
mounted on the back. Auto mechanics on bicycles come to the
aid of breakdowns as they ride bikes with only the most basic
set of tools mounted on the rear rack.
Much More Than Paperboys
Five major newspapers are printed near the center of downtown,
and successful distribution increasingly depends on the mobility
of bicycles. From behind the offices of the major daily Excelsior,
a multitude of riders convenes throughout the day among old-worldish,
Mexican-made, Benotto indestructo-bikes. The riders are often
as old and worn as their machines. As the days and nights pass
and the newspapers roll off the press, riders leave the loading
area with newspapers piled up to five feet high on their rear
racks. With surprising skill and ease, they pass through the
endless torrent of cars to get the newspapers out to remote
neighborhoods and newstands, and to the public.
Bicycle Taxis
In the ten blocks around the Zocalo or "town square" groups
of bicycle taxi drivers have formed to meet the growing need
to get around the standstill. In the Mexican tradition many
of them are unionized. "The union's a not a bad deal," said
bicitaxista Javier de la Torre Andres. "We just pay 10 pesos
a day (about $3) and like a cooperative they pay for new bikes
and repairs."
To preserve their health in the face of the growing pollution
problem, bicitaxista union members head "up to the mountains"
once a month to ride their bikes where the air's clean. "It
decongests the lungs," I was told. I asked environmentalist
Beatriz Padilla, who currently works promoting solar car development
and commutes by bike when she can, just how thick the air could
get. "I've seen the
smog get so bad that there isn't just a haze in the air, there
are different densities of air swirling around in the streets.
Something must be done."
Mexico City's Municipal Velodrome
"There's a lot of misinformation about smog." said Ricardo Ramirez,
who for three years has directed the cycling program at the
track where the 1968 Olympic cycling events were held. "The
best time of day to ride is at about 10 am," Ramirez told me
as we watched his group of young protegees do their morning
training. "If you turn on the lights at night or early in the
morning you see all the haze in the
air," he said.
Unfortunately, even this may be misinformation. Smog tables
published in some daily newspapers chart the levels of ozone,
carbon monoxide, lead and other aiborne contaminants - by the
hour. By any table, the ozone levels peak about the time when
Ricardo's cyclists are advised to ride.
After the riders finished training I asked one named Edgar
just how it is that recreational cyclists can exist in this
harsh environment. He looked at me through glowing eyes, his
ponytail swinging in the breeze, and said, "Because, it's our
passion." Edgar is now 18, and he intends to stick with the
velodrome until he can arrange to go abroad to race - and represent
Mexico and the Aztec heritage he very proudly claims.
On this same track, in 1984 Francesco Moser set the 5, 10 and
20 kilometer records, and the hour record. Today the all-wood
track stands in a state of disrepair. "Cycles in this country
are just too expensive. I've seen photos of France, and Holland.
Housewives, kids, workers all going wherever they want on bike
paths. We don't have any of that here," Ricardo said. The fees
at the track are proof that
it's more than money that holds people back. For about five
dollars a month the city offers use of the track and provides
a Campagnolo-equipped pista bike with sew-ups. Despite this
incentive, the velodrome has only about 50 regular users.
Air is among the most basic requirements for human life, yet
when asked if smog effects them, most bicitaxistas and recreational
riders say their bodies have adapted so the air's no problem
now. Cycle-users here seem to be of a tremendously resilient
breed. Forever more, when I see an off-duty bottle distributor
using his bicycle cart to carry friends through oppressively
dusty streets for a wild Saturday night, I will be reminded
of Ricardo's last words when we parted ways at the velodrome.
"We cyclists are like the cockroaches and the rats that can
survive nuclear war. You just blow the ash out of your nose
and pedal on."
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