Facebook can sometimes be very useful. Last summer a group of young people in Alexandria started a group on facebook called Cycling in Alexandria Streets (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=26660188676) and the purpose was to encourage people in Alexandria to starting using bicycle as a means of transportation. They organized a ride every Saturday in the morning on the coastline of the city of Alexandria. There have been several rides since the start and one of these was in support of the MDGs. I’ve admired the idea since the start. In many of the big cities, bicycles are a standard means of transportation for a wide portion of the population. Either it’s for economic reasons (like in Asia) or for environmental or health reasons (like in Europe), going to wok by bicycle is certainly a metropolitan best-practice that we need to adopt in our congested, polluted (and yet beautiful) city.
Because of exams or being outside the city (once in Copenhagen which has impressive amount of people riding bicycles) I was unable to join the ride. Only today that I managed to join for the first time - and it won’t be the last for sure. I enjoyed very much the 18-kilometre ride from Muntazah (the largest park in Alexandria) to the Citadel (that’s about 800 years old). Although my leg muscles still ache, I’m feeling better and more willing to work. Despite the mocking from many of the passer-bys, safety was the only real issue. I really hope that with the growth of this movement, the government will recognize the importance of adding a special lane for bicylces.