2024 Seoul Bicycle Parade Festival: A 20km Ride Through the Heart of Seoul

Cycling · Published 5/19/2024 ·

I went to the 2024 Seoul Bicycle Parade Festival. I took part back in 2022, sat out last year, and finally made it back this year — so this was my second time.

Here I am, warming up.

The Seoul Bicycle Parade starts at Gwanghwamun and runs past City Hall → Sungnyemun → Seoul Station → Namyeong-dong → Yongsan → onto the Gangbyeonbuk-ro → the north end of Gayang Bridge → and finishes at World Cup Stadium, a course of roughly 20km. It’s a festival rather than a race, so the distance isn’t all that long. And naturally, there’s no timing involved. They do hand out snacks and a medal at the finish line, though ^^

A bicycle festival where they completely shut down roads of four lanes or more — you get to leave behind the menacing cars you normally have to coexist with and ride the open road entirely to yourself. It’s a pretty unique experience. Today even Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon joined the ride and made it all the way to Sangam-dong. We also spotted quite a few celebrities ^^

From early in the morning, the cyclists packed the area in front of Gwanghwamun Square completely solid. Hugely popular. On subway Line 5 heading toward Gwanghwamun, the crowd of cyclists actually outnumbered the regular passengers by a wide margin.

I bought a friend’s tri-fold bike and joined the festival on it. It’s a seriously capable bike — and the engine on its previous owner was something else.

Sadly, the stretch along the Gangbyeonbuk-ro ends way too quickly. Before I knew it I was already at Gayang Bridge. You climb up to the right and head from the north end of Gayang Bridge toward World Cup Bridge. Those 20-odd kilometers were over in a flash.

Here’s the Seoul Bicycle Parade finisher’s medal. It doesn’t mean a whole lot, but it’s still a fun little memory.

Leaving the bittersweet feeling behind, we headed to Ttukbang Super — an old-school spot any cycling enthusiast would know. We rushed over, grabbed a table, and put in our order. The food showed up about an hour after we ordered. We chatted away while we waited, and started with the signature dubu-kimchi. Then came the hobak-jeon and kimchi-jeon.

We wrapped things up with some bibim-guksu. That clean, familiar taste you just know!

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The Seoul Bicycle Parade clocked in at 20.43km. Unlike a typical bike race, the chance to ride right through the heart of Seoul for a low cost made it a really unique event. If you love cycling, keep an eye out for the 2025 parade.

Thank you.

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