A reluctance to get on your bike

The immediate impact of yesterday's Critical Mass-inspired bike ride may not have been what participants were hoping for.

More than 50 riders (road bikers and mountain bikers declared a temporary truce for the event) rode from the Star Ferry terminal in Tsim Sha Tsui up Nathan Road to Prince Edward in order to raise the Hong Kong public's awareness of the many ways in which this city is about as hostile to cycling as possible.

Readers know by now the many problems Hong Kong cyclists face, from a lack of bike lanes to this year's incomprehensible decision to ban bikes from the MTR.

But local mountain-bike enthusiast and rabble-rouser Mark Keith says the tourists out on Nathan Road on Sunday morning must have thought this a bike-loving town, seeing a long line of riders pedalling leisurely down a major road with a motorcycle escort of about 20 police officers.

And from the sidelines it looked as though many Hongkongers had nicely sculpted legs and a fondness for spandex.

Au contraire, says Mr Keith. 'You walk around Hong Kong and everyone's fat,' he told CitySeen after the ride. 'People here would rather spend money on slimming treatments than getting a bike.'