By bicycle in Rosario

A reader asks about bikes and traffic in Rosario. I replied in brief in a comment yesterday, but I thought it'd be more useful and visible to expand on that now.

You've surely all heard that driving in Argentina is complete madness. That's partly true... It's not that drivers are mad; they just feel free to ignore or bend the rules, re-interpreting them according to the occasion. Some of them are truly mad, in the sense that they don't seem to perceive reality in the same way as pedestrians and other drivers; for example, they see an empty parking space where in fact there is a bus stop, or they fail to see other vehicles except those larger than their own.

Bikers are a special case. There are some who drive reasonably well, but most (including me) ignore the traffic lights and zebra crossings whenever possible. A bicycle can't get fined for crossing a red light. Truth be told, these minor violations often make up for the physical disadvantage of bicycles faced with motor vehicles much faster and sturdier, but in turn they work against the next weaker ones in the scale — pedestrians. Bicycles appear from nowhere at lightning speeds, trying to stay ahead of the mass of cars, and often miss overconfident pedestrians by mere inches. Bikers make U-turns seconds before the light turns to red in their lane in a two-way avenue, turn left where they shouldn't, zigzag between buses and trucks, and in general they (we) barely use the brakes.

I love my bike and the sense of freedom it gives me, but at times I get a bit afraid of it as well. I like the fact that it's free (as in beer), comparatively small (don't need a special place to park it!), and much faster than going on foot, even if not all that flexible for urban exploration (you can get almost anywhere on foot). Anyone who's ever grown accustomed to a vehicle knows about "the zone", that trance-like state when you feel completely in tune, one with the machine. You must be in "the zone" when you're driving a bike in Rosario, even as it's awfully dangerous, because otherwise you'll get crushed the first time you get distracted.

Bicycles have traditionally been the poor's vehicle in Argentina. This, of course, made it popular by necessity in the 1990s. In 2002, right after the Big Crunch, you'd get out to catch the bus at dawn and see swarms and swarms of construction and factory workers in their overalls, pedalling like crazy, all in synch so as to remain grouped — for a lone biker was (is) an easy prey for thieves. According to a study, there were 340,000 bicycles in Rosario in 2002, about one per three inhabitants.

There are still many people going to work every day by bike. Others use it to transport their partners or their whole family. Three people (two adults, one child) in a single bicycle is a terrible thing — unstable and very dangerous — but some have no alternative. Consider that a round bus trip for three costs AR$7.20 — less than 3 dollars, yet enough to buy a kilo of acceptable-quality beef. Needless to say, most bikers don't bother to wear helmets or any other protective devices (motorbikers, who are obliged by law, usually don't wear them either).

I don't go to work by bike, because it'd take me an hour to get there and I'd arrive hecho sopa (soaked), and because I can (still) afford the bus. The Japanese Association, however, is only 20 minutes away, and its informality makes it a bit more acceptable for me to be a bit sweaty when I arrive, so I'm considering going to Japanese class on two wheels. Better for my health, better for my budget, and better for the environment.

Rosario has many places acceptable for bicycle riding, but comparatively very few bike paths. For reasons of space, the whole downtown area can't have paths at all, since there's barely room for cars and buses as it is. There are no wide avenues across Rosario's compact center, but a grid of very narrow streets that may have been fine for carriages and horses in 1900, but get congested easily with 21st century traffic. Driving a bike there is tantamount to suicide.


The municipal policies encouraging the use of bicycles often collide with other local policies or turn out to be just declarations of good will, soon forgotten. Lately, though, newly-opened sections of major avenues do usually come with good bicycle paths.

You may have heard of Argentina's horrific traffic accident record. The media have been focusing on this for some time now, with spectacular, dramatic pleas for better traffic laws and monitoring technology, when every now and then a handful of people die on the road. Argentinians generally drive very badly, but always place the blame elsewhere. I intended to write about this today, but I'll leave that for tomorrow or next week, as this post has gotten too long.

Getting physical

As part of my personal remake, as I told you already, I decided to counter my forceful sedentary habits (6 hours a day before a computer at the office, and maybe 1 or 2 more hours at home) with physical activity. It's a real pain. I'm too old for this, I've never done any sports consistently, and my body is plainly not made for that. I did a fair amount of workout at the gym more than a year ago for many months, with interesting but not spectacular results. I have no gym buddy to keep me from staying home when I should be sweating.

Anyway, I did start the gym (I'm in constant pain!) and decided to go jogging with two friends of mine who also go to another gym every other day. Now these are people who've had training and consistent physical activity at some point in their lives, and they're younger than me, so obviously I can't follow them for long. Fortunately we're friends enough that I can tell them "don't even think of slowing down because of me" and get "we for sure won't!" for an answer, no offence taken. We're doing a short course starting at number 0 of Pellegrini Avenue, going down to the south-eastern tip of the city center, then left (north and north-west) following the curve of the riverside Belgrano Avenue, and ending right in front of the National Flag Memorial. We're supposed to walk then, but yesterday the guys decided they'd try jogging our return as well. So far I've joined the party twice, on Tuesday and Thursday, and that's it for the week.


If I can't go jogging I'll be doing a slightly different aerobic exercise by using my bicycle. I tried going from home to the Japanese Association at a slow relaxed rhythm; it took me 25 minutes, probably more than it should, but considering my state and the horrible traffic, it was excellent; I didn't stop once except at the traffic lights, and then I returned home immediately without resting in about the same time. Moreover, 25 minutes is what it takes me by bus to go Japanese school, if I count an average of 5 minutes waiting at the bus stop. Therefore I think I'm going to use the bike for that when classes resume in March.

Security is a concern; people on bicycles are easy targets for opportunist thieves, and I have to cross a raised railway line surrounded by a small villa miseria. I don't think this will be a problem, though; I'm more worried about my composure when I enter class all sweaty and with a messy hair. Anyway, this can help my health and save money, so I'll make the effort to train during February.

All in all it's clear I can't set my goals too high, or set goals at all, in the manner that other people train to achieve ever longer distances. My goal is to stop the deterioration that is sure to happen at an accelerated pace if I'm sitting at the office, travelling in buses and at home for 10 hours a day. Any kind of physical exercise is appropriate for that... I only need to achieve a balance.