{"id":6758,"date":"2014-10-27T16:49:37","date_gmt":"2014-10-27T16:49:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/?p=6758"},"modified":"2014-10-28T08:02:12","modified_gmt":"2014-10-28T08:02:12","slug":"worst-places-in-the-world-to-ride-a-bike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merlincycles.com\/blog\/worst-places-in-the-world-to-ride-a-bike\/","title":{"rendered":"Worst Places in the World to Ride a Bike"},"content":{"rendered":"

From ill-conceived cycle lanes through to total bans on all cycling, here’s a list of places to scrub off your holiday shortlist with immediate effect.<\/p>\n

There are some great places in the world to be a cyclist. Our previous blog Great Cities to Cycle in<\/a> round up a few of the good spots.<\/p>\n

There are also really rather rubbish places to ride a bike in the UK. One of the original and still the best resources for such duff Brit biking is the fantastically withering Warrington Cycle Campaign’s Cycle Facility of the Month<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But it’s strangely reassuring to see that it’s not just the UK that could do with a better cycling infrastructure. We’ve done a bit of Googling around and come up the following list of global not-hotspots (notspots?) to be a cyclist.<\/p>\n

\"ByNorth Korea<\/h2>\n

Okay, so it’s not really great to be anything in North Korea let alone a cyclist. But since the mid 90s North Korea has banned all women from riding bicycles.<\/p>\n

According to Daily News NK<\/a> “This was due to an edict handed down after Kim Jong Il himself took exception to seeing a female cyclist while he was conducting an inspection.”<\/p>\n

Moscow, Russia<\/h2>\n

Moscow only got its first ever cycle lane in 2011. It was unveiled with much fanfare… and much derision<\/a> immediately afterwards. Two-way sections that are barely one metre wide, bollards and gates obstructing the way, cars parked across it and other tricky elements.<\/p>\n