Sweet Rides of Macedonia - June

Sweet Rides - Mrs June Non-Motorized Transport

Looking back on the last couple years one of the common forms of MAK sweet rides must include non-motorized transport.  And, one of the most common in this catergory is the bike.  Most bikes here are city bikes - fat tires, a few gears, baskets, some lights and maybe the optional rack.  Many of these bikes look quite old and have been kept on the road in spite of age, condition, or unsuitable terrain.   Here is my esteemed spouse taking her city bike cross country.  Below is a typical old reliable bike patiently awaiting its owner to travel to the next village or market.  These do hard duty hauling their riders and market goods, or a couple kids; hence the need for baskets and rack.

Bikes in villages and towns compete well with other traffic, except maybe tractors.  Virtually no one (except PC volunteers), wears a helmet as they confidently weave among traffic in all weather.  I am very impressed with their multiple and determined abilities.

Here is a plastic bottle recycle cart.  These are common, cleverly constructed, and quite useful

Here on the right is another version of the custom bike cart.  Careful observers will note that this is front-wheel steering model.  The human engine cranks the rear wheel and the operator steers the front side to side to turn.  It is not much on cornering, but good in navigating big loads thru the twisting streets in the Skopje Old Bazaar.

The top-of-the-line sweet ride is the horse cart.  These are everywhere in rural areas; which is pretty much all of this country.  Horse power is used a lot to jauntily take their owners to town, haul produce, move household goods, and plow fields.  The carts are invariably made of wood and, built on a metal frame with rubber tires.  The one horsepower version is the only type I have seen.

Horse carts act exactly like cars and travel on roads, park on sidewalks and are in every town.  Even major cities have horse carts which are usually used for picking up paper/plastic for recycling.  These city carts can haul enormous loads, and large families.

There are other animal carts as well that use donkeys or even the occasional goat.  Since speed, load and just plain good looks are valued, the horse is the most common power plant.

Here is a cart in Negotino parked out front of the tire store.  

Here is a fine country sweet ride with the owner allowing the power plant to take a break.  You can tell this is a high class horse due to the blinders.  Looks like a quick wash is needed to restore the original white luster however.

No discussion of the non-motorized sweet ride would be complete without a description of the wheeled mule.  This kid carrier jogging stroller is proudly being shown off by Henry Eisenbarth in DiHovo.  The stroller, which actually was called the "wheeled mule," was an Eisenbarth mainstay for hauling kids (all 3), luggage, groceries, clothes, pretty much anything that needed to be schlepped along during a walk, and thru airports.  This thing travelled the world and logged many miles here in Macedonia.  I don't know the make, but it kept going on replaced tires, taped nylon top, and plenty of spare inner tubes.  Sadly, it met an untimely demise on a trip from Macedonia to Rome when it was delivered to the luggage carousel with one of the front tires Sheared. Right. Off.  It probably got caught in a conveyor.  Liz ran it on 3 wheels in Rome, and it still traveled on to Madrid.  There, in Spain, it was stolen, recognised as a sweet ride even with only 3 legs.  

We applaud non-motorized transport in its many forms.  Travelling this way makes you better every time you use it.  For all this and more, we thank you, MRS JUNE!