Rheinradweg
Since arriving in Bonn, one of my favorite ways to explore the surrounding area has been bikes. Although best in great weather (it’s been way too cold to bike for the majority of my stay), the ability to both travel effectively and experience the area from the inside has proven 
unmatched in its ability to show me the beautiful landscape offered by the Rhine and surrounding Bonn area; and while the city itself is amazingly (and increasingly) accessible by bike, the real wonder of the biking culture here lies along the Rhine.
Stretching along the entire Rhine throughout three countries, the EuroVelo 15 Rheinradweg provides bikers access to over 1233 kilometers
of beautiful, marked pathway. The path, given its massive length and consistent maintenance, has proven majorly beneficial both for commuting throughout/between the cities which it runs along and for sport as communities demonstrate demand for such a development via massive amounts of use on the path. In Bonn, development and upkeep of the path has been majorly positively impacted as the city expands bike accessibility citywide, increasing both access to the EV15 and the general number of bikers in the area – increasing the path’s userbase.
The Bonn section of the path is often overcrowded with walkers and sightseers who both move slower and pack denser than bikers in general, making biking on the path extremely difficult during peak hours. To combat this, the city government has implemented a plan to shift river-adjacent streets to feature pro-bike architecture, allowing bikers to move around the path at times of heavy traffic to keep both them and the walkers safer – this push is part of an expansive, ongoing effort to transition city streets to be more biker-friendly and less car-dependent. Areas around the path and the UN Campus have already started to show massive shifts toward biker-friendly road design, but it’ll be interesting to see how this develops as the city continues their efforts.
European Cyclists’ Federation. (n.d.). EuroVelo 15 – Rhine Cycle Route. https://en.eurovelo.com/ev15
