Biking in Berlin

It was Berlin that four years ago gave me the confidence to get back on my bike. With less than half the population owning a car, most people have a bike. Various surveys say that there are 400,000 cyclists (or around 12% of the population) on the cities cycle routes each day, and 5% of all journeys are biked (compared to 2% in London). Which means cyclists rule the road.

Unlike London, cycling in Berlin makes you feel safe and sexy. Cycle lanes, wide streets, traffic lights that turn green first for cyclists, and a look the other way attitude to cycling on pavements means that cycling in Berlin is pretty safe. This in turn makes helmet wearing rare, so that despite the rain, the occasional tramline and the wobbly effect the cobbled streets have on your arms, cycling feels pretty carefree.

There are bikes for every purpose here. Huge boxes at the front of bikes are used by post men and women to deliver letters, and by homeless guys to collect bottles (which they recycle for cash), parents take their eager kids to kindergarten or school in seat or a trailer attached to the back, and dog-owners give their pets a lift when its a bit too much, fresh-faced workers commute across town on the 1,600 km of cycle paths, and more tipsy night owls wobble over the bridge between Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg as they continue their night out. Fixies and pimped bikes are on the up, but because of those dastardly tramlines, most prefer a fatter wheel. Tourists have a choice of eight seater circular bikes, beer and bar bikes (where you drink, peddle and sight see), tandem bikes, Dutch bikes or your common all garden regular bike. Best ones are Boxi Bikes on Boxhagener Platz (28 euros for three days) or Fahrradstation on Dorotheenstraße in Mitte (really good selection, including trailers, but bit pricier).

With a couple of exceptions, everyone I've taken out on a bike has loved it, despite riding a bike I bought from a guy in the bar for 10 euros and a pack of fags, or having me riding on their rack after someone got a flat. We've either stuck to the city centre, doing the touristy sites and going out to the amazing Café am Neuen See in the Tiergarten, gone down along the canal in Kreuzberg and picked up an ice cream from Aldemir Eis in Falkensteinstraße, gone out to old town of Köpenick and the enormous Müggelsee lake (taking the train there costs 1 euro 30) or precariously balanced beers and lettuce leaves in our baskets on the way to a picnic in Treptower Park. And some have even been inspired to dust down their Pioneer Prestiges back home.

Volkspark Wuhlheide

At 27km, this run was my longest so far, and according to my training guide, 3km short of the longest I should do before the big day itself. So inevitably, it required a new park to run through. Leaving the city parks behind me, I headed out to Volkspark Wuhlheide, which is just by Köpenick, a once medieval town south east of Berlin that has now been engulfed by the city's administrative borders.

 As I ran down along the river by Treptower Park and into the woodland of the Volkspark Wuhlheide, I noticed how many different ways people were using the parks. After the previous day's sunshine when people had been pedalo-ing, ping-ponging and picnicing, people were cycling, walking, playing and even raving at an all-weekend festival in the park.

Its my impression that Berliners seem to use their parks and green space much more than people in London other European cities I've visited. This may be because the bigger parks - like Volkspark Wuhlheide - have more on offer. As you can see from the map, there are walking and cycle lanes, football pitches and skatebording areas, horseriding centres, an organic garden, a model village of Berlin and Brandenburg buildings, openair swimming pools and theatres, and of course the obligatory children's climbing frames. They were simply designed for people to spend a lot of their free time here.

But it also seems that people here relish spending their free time in the great outdoors - even if that is within the city boundaries. The Timeout equivalents - Tip and Zitty - have been featuring outdoor activities since I've been here; the 10 best lakes, undiscovered outdoor escapes etc. Doing a cycling tour out to one of the surrounding lakes, forests or towns seems to be way more popular here - for those in their 20s as well as 70s. And the neighbourhood parks are busy early into the evening with people having a beer and/or BBQ. Why this is - fewer gardens, or colder winters - I don't know, but whatever the reason, its good news for summertime runners.