Scootin’

Two bears, one unicycle
Two bears, one unicycle

As mentioned previously, Rob loves the bus. And so we take the bus to most of the places we go to in Beijing. But the apartment we’re currently subletting also comes with a bicycle and e-scooter (basically a low-speed electric motorcycle) — and so we thought maybe we’d scoot around town, too, especially when we’re running too late for the bus (which, you’re probably not surprised, is frequently).

The first time we scooted across a couple of avenues, it felt really daring — wind in our hair, we zipped past bicycles and weaved in and out of traffic until we jauntily dismounted at our destination.

But then we took the bike to school this morning and realized we might have been in awe of the novelty more than anything. We’re not small people, you see, and when we both sit on this wee e-scooter, we practically crush its shocks into the ground. And then we give it a bit of gas, and it whines its way up to full speed, which is approximately 22 kph (13.67 mph). I like to imagine it weeping under our full body weight. I also like to imagine that we look like a couple of circus bears sharing a unicycle, a sentiment that was confirmed by the dude on a shiny blue scooter giving us the unabashed amused yet judgmental stare when we paused at a light.

Anyway, to add insult to injury in all of this, this morning we were passed by a fat man with a sweaty crotch. He was riding a bicycle.

Zoop zoop.

Here’s a video of our friend Nick passing us on his bike:

Bears on a bike. from Rob Christensen on Vimeo.

(Although, the rusty spring noises are from his bike.)

Two bears, one unicycle
Two bears, one unicycle

2 thoughts on “Scootin’”

  1. The video is so funny. Glad you guys are enjoying the life in Beijing.

    btw. I am a friend of jeff’s and was invited to the new year’s eve party that you guys hosted. I am from Beijing.

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