Can I really ride a road bike in Shanghai with all this mad traffic and the unpredictable road companions? It took me quite some time to try it out and I am glad I did. In the end, it’s not as bad as I thought.
The road bike cycling community is huge in Shanghai. There is a cycling group riding literally every day of the week (most times twice, in the morning and in the evening) on both sides, Puxi and Puding (Link). GIANT has a large factory outside of Shanghai and they have a decent amout of stores scattered around the city. Most of these stores rent out road bikes in good condition (today I got a pretty decent Rose Carbon bike with 105 Shimano) for around 200 RMB / day. This is a pretty good deal if you don’t want to buy a bike immediately. Just go there a day or two in advance and reserve it. Once you got their WeChat, you can just reserve bikes through it and don’t have to go every time to reserve. Pick up and drop off was very quick and easy.
Picking out a route is not always the easiest because there are roads that are better than others, which is why I mostly do a bit of research before I leave and find a route on Komoot or Strava. Both work pretty well here.
Today, I found a Komoot route that took me out to the Sheshan National forest park. The first few kilometers out of the city fly by rather quickly and after 20 minutes you feel that you can actually start loosening up as the intersections become fewer, and so do the other bikes and scooters. This route was very enjoyable because it was not really difficult to follow.
The first small viewpoint was southern part of Hongqiao Airport where you could get a good look at planes taking off and landing. After that, quite a lot of green, no industry, no noise (apart from the cicadas that are around during this season). After 30 km you get to a nice little rest point with some interesting architecture. I think the houses were not under water but simply built like this…
I didn’t really see any of the views or „attractions“ in Sheshan forest – maybe because I missed the entrance gate – but the route took me through a very beautiful secluded area with lots of trees and some pretty impressive mansions around. I stopped at the West Gate but the security guard just waved me off so I didn’t try any further.
Road conditions on this route are pretty much like this or very similar all the way. The bike path is always separated from the road traffic which makes it very smooth and relaxing especially if there are not a lot of other bikes or scooters around.
Somewhere on the way back I found a model airplane field with an amusement park in the background. It was good to see that there is at least some sort of aviation going on here even if General Aviation is pretty much off limits I guess. The amusement park looked interesting and I thought it might be abandoned because of the very old-looking attractions. However, at some point I saw a cart cracking up the roller coaster with people in it… That made it quite scary to look at… 
After riding through some pretty green scenery, which I didn’t expect to see so close to Shanghai, one part of the track hit me a bit unexpected. The road stopped and I stood in front of a dirt road strip which is not really something you want to have when you are riding a road bike. The map indicated that it would only be a few hundred meters so I decided to walk through it and got back on the bike on the other side.
All things considered, this was a very nice trip with a few small, nice view points in between. Cycling in Shanghai is pretty good, though, you need to be aware of traffic at least until you get out of the city center. I also didn’t really find a place to eat or places to buy water the further I got out of the city, so stock up before you get too far out.
Also: if you are considering to do such a trip at 33°C in the sun, make sure you are prepared…