South Korea's Infrastructure Boondoggle A Boon For Cyclists

SANGJU, South Korea (AP) — In a country where bikes are either a poor man's transportation or a weekend workout for spandex-clad racers, the longest and most highly engineered network of car-free paths in the world is being built through dense evergreen forests, down wildflower-lined river valleys and over steep mountain crests. Construction of the multimillion-dollar bike network was met with widespread disdain a decade ago as an expensive attempt to appease public contempt over former President Lee Myung-bak's controversial Four Rivers Restoration Project. Especially one that provides peaceful passage through massive cities and snakes through bike-only mountain tunnels with smooth pavement, solar-powered air tire pumps, bathrooms built in the shape of bicycles, and even London telephone booth-style "certification centers" every 20 kilometers (12 miles) where riders can stamp the location's logo in special-issue passbooks. [...] although fewer than 2 percent of people in South Korea get around on bikes (compared to 49 percent of European Union residents), the bike paths that will eventually reach 5,000 kilometers (3,106 miles) are gaining popularity, both with recreational riders in South Korea and among a growing number of foreigners who are choosing bicycle tourism as a vacation. The routes are dotted with newer guesthouses, cafes and restaurants catering to cyclists who need a comfortable place to sleep or a spicy rice and veggie bibimbap bowl, the country's unofficial comfort food.  Farmers, clerks and baristas were consistently welcoming during a recent tour; a gas station attendant insisted on handing cyclists milky-sweet coffee outside the small farming village of Seosan, and an innkeeper near Chungju woke before dawn to scramble up eggs from her chickens with carrots and kale from her garden. A series of economic impact studies over the past decade from British Columbia to Europe have found that bike tourists spend more money and engage more with local communities than people traveling through on car road trips or packaged bus tours.