BIKING SHANGHAI 

Tour de Puxi Night Stage 

Adrenalin pistons my legs

as we surge into the dense sweaty night

a fifty strong throng

of unruly, liberated

don’t give a dam cyclists

intent on claiming the streets

for a brief heady moment

We blur past a monochrome

concrete landscape

neon bejewelled, its music

the dun sound of engines and wheels

chorussed by random horns

Around me riders pass, fall back

weave into slender spaces

chat, smile, touch fists

encourage each other

signal hazards

hold up traffic for the pack

in an unspoken camaraderie

spun by twin wheels

A water stop crowds the pavement

outside a store

smiles, sweat dripping

stories told, names exchanged

moments of silence

a couple passing ask what and why

Then on again into the sodium lit night

contracting, puffing, stretching like 

a cloud of starlings

approximating their wheeling freedom

on streets built for chaotic order

On to the Bund

in a forbidden flypast

a disrespectful nod 

to the city’s sombre monuments

of a distant age

We end in a tired gaggle at a bridge

and a long-bearded old man

squeals his bike to a juddering halt

to wave in a smile

and take cheering applause from us

Pushing wearily home alone

along silent, shadowy streets

my heart still beats with the 

pedal pumping, wheel whirring energy that fuels

my happy bed-seeking soul