KEREKPAROSKLUB

On a first day in Budapest you might stroll along the Danube, admire the baroque building details, soak in a bathhouse, get drunk on Palinka. Instead, I go to the Kerekparosklub. The Magyar Kerekparosklub that is. The crew here promotes bicycling throughout Hungary and advocates for improving infrastructure.

It's the middle of the month-long Bike to Work campaign so things are heating up in the Hungary Bicycle Club headquarters. I try to contribute just a little bit with some volunteer tasks such as stuffing membership renewal envelopes and picking up a bike at one end of Budapest's center and delivering it to the other side.

The highlight of the campaign is a bicyclists' breakfast at 26 locations throughout the country (I believe about 10 in Budapest) to celebrate bikers, to gain name recognition and of course to recruit new members. Through a friend of a friend of a friend (thanks Kati!) I get hooked up with all these great people and at 6.30am on Thursday we are setting up a table with baked goodies, apples, drinks, flyers, and balloons (plus there's a DJ and guitarist for an instant party vibe!).

At 7am the first bike commuters roll in for a bite and soon Kalvin Square is bicycle central. A bit later I decide to walk over the bridge to another brekkie location. This one is ON the main North-South bike path and by 9am one thousand bikers have stopped in for a 'chocolate snail'. It is super fun to hand out flyers here and talk to many of the commuters. There is even a Hungarian TV actor there to hand out platters of the pastries. (No clue who he is but apparently he is a bike activist besides a movie celeb.)

Go kerekparos!