Copenhagen , was recently named world cycle capital.!
No great surprise to me. Being half Danish, that fair city was my home town for many years , so I am quite familiar with its bike culture..
To tell the truth, I was never a big fan. Funny thing is I’m not entirely sure why? My Danish mother always said: “ All Danes are born on a bicycle”. I certainly wasn’t.
One thing I do know for sure. When I was a kid in the village in the South of France and we had our three bikes shipped over from Denmark. Black for daddy, green for mummy and blue for daughter. My bicycle was my pride and joy. My very own Cadillac. The sheer joy of rushing down the hill at what seemed like a 100 miles a minute was utterly fantabulistic.
However this was absolutely nothing compared to my ever growing popularity amongst the village kids.
At last, after several years of stone throwing and pulling of my plaits and calling me “ The English girl, the English girl” I had become Miss Popular or rather Queen BB, of blue bike fame.
Actually there were a few bikes around at the time but they all had hand brakes. My one was different…” it had no brakes at all !.” At least that’s what they all said. Actually the brakes were in the pedals, so they were hidden. Every time you pedalled backwards the thing braked. Simple as that. But, of course this was a huge novelty and the queues of eager “ students” grew ever longer.
That was a long time ago.
My first school in Copenhagen was just down the road, so I always walked. Later on I had further to go, so I usually took the tram. ( Yes ,they had an excellent tram system. All gone now, of course)
Eventually I got a bike and started riding it to school. But I never really enjoyed it even though the cycle pavements were as large as the real ones and it was all very safe. Eventually when I started at Uni it got stolen and that was the end of that.
Later on when I first came to England there wasn’t a bicycle to be seen anywhere, unlike now. Thanks to some good campaigning, sheer common sense and of course, these days, all the environmental factors, the bicycle is enjoying great popularity, helmet and all. Just one thing though. When I see those brave folk in the middle of London, some with their white anti pollution masks on, one bit of me says ‘you’re completely mad’. The other bit gives me goose bumps.
But talking of helmets. There appears to be a passionate debate going on in the two leading cycle countries, The Netherlands and Denmark and even in the UK. Basically its – ‘ helmet or no helmet!’ Denmark first. Admittedly I’ve not been there for a while but I have no recollection of helmets. People do wear them but, as far as I know they are in a minority. as a population on the whole they don’t.
Before you start screaming: ‘ What about safety?’ I can only say that there are no statistics to show that more non-helmet wearers get mown down. In the Netherlands where the number of cyclists helmet wearers is zero , there appears to be no safety problem.
They may not wear helmets but, in total contrast to London, they are a fearful bunch. I don’t know about cars but as a pedestrian you have to run for your life every time you cross the street. There’s something about the Dutch, once they get in the saddle. Suddenly this benign two-wheeler transforms into a Maserati and woe and behold anyone who gets in the way. Frightening indeed!
But now to the beast itself.
I’ve still not gotten used to the bikes in this country. I’m talking design here.
One thing I always liked about Danish bikes was the design.
Simple, no nonsense and for the most part stylish and…always that wonderful ‘ luggage carrier’ above the rear wheel. So practical for the office files or for the party-girls heels in case she doesn’t wish to wear them whilst pedalling and…of course there is the ubiquitous pannier, leather-strapped to the handle bars ideal for that bottle of snaps, or a few Tuborgs or Carlsbergs.
In any case whatever bike you owned. You’d use it every day to go to the office, tie flying in the wind, if you’re a man. Knees knocking together in your tight skirt and stilettos if you’re a woman.
But my absolute favourite is the ‘ granny bike’, not that too many grannies actually use them but there is something so totally stylish, grand about these two-wheelers that put them in a class of their own. The main difference is the U curve in the main bar from the handles to the saddle. That’s it! But with the pannier on the front and the toddler/ luggage carrier at the back it’s unique and, it comes in a medley of colours. So, should you just happen to looove pink you can have that too.
My favourites though, are the old ‘iron horses’, Long Johns, still used today,
All heavy black metal with a varying-in-size low platform at the front, just like the old ones they used here, in the thirties and forties, for delivering groceries. Should you wish to move your wardrobe or load up that Christmas tree, this is the perfect solution. You can even stick your kids on the front, if they’re small enough.
Totally practical. Totally Danish !
Now for the green bit. I do not wish to disappoint anyone but if you think that the Danes have green blood in their veins you are mistaken. I don’t in any way mean that they are less environmentally friendly than any other country but there is a myth, which has been about for years, that needs dispelling. Danes and Swedes, I hardly dare mention them in the same sentence, (old enemy’s and all that…) are’ socialist countries’ where green issues are at the front of the political agenda. Not true!
One thing is clear though, overall both countries - are fairly well advanced on green issues. Butthe Danes are, first and foremost, pragmatists. The country is flat as a pancake so what better form of transport than a bicycle? The only ‘ mountain’, by the name of ‘ Himmel bjerget’, Sky Mountain, is 147 meters high and easy to avoid.
More cycle news to come….
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