A group ride in Istanbul, Turkey. Photo via Bisikletliler Derneği.

Not long ago, a friend visiting from New York asked me if I ever saw anyone biking in Istanbul. My first instinct was to scoff, “Of course not! Haven’t you seen the insane traffic around here?!? And there aren’t even proper sidewalks to walk on, much less bike lanes!” But then I took a moment to think about it, and, other than little kids tooling around on the back streets, I could recall having seen exactly two bike riders in recent weeks… one of whom was narrowly evadi