Girlfriends riding together on the bike lanes of Copenhagen. Sociable, sustainable, fashionable. [Confused about the blog title?] Girlfriends continuing their chat at a red light. The one on the right practices the old school red light posture. Getting right off the bike and waiting for green. Style over speed indeed. Maybe it goes with being a violin player. Or just being a Copenhagener. Or both.
And on some stretches, there's room for three [or more] friends to ride astride and chat on the bike lanes.
A Copenhagener launches her bicycle into motion. She has a little Danish flag - Dannebrog, the world's oldest national flag - in her hair. I'm guessing she's heading to a birthday or other celebration.
Two Copenhageners launch off the lights in the rain. That magical moment when human powered transport begins.
This Five Cycling Senses is an aesthetic series so I won't dwell too long on the obvious 'smell' factor regarding urban cycling - exhaust from motor vehicles. I'll just hurry up and link to this post over at Copenhagenize.com about how studies have shown that the level of polluting particles is higher INSIDE cars than next to them on a bike. So while we have to live with exhaust, we can pity the motorists.
And this post highlights how traffic [meaning pollution and noise] kills ten times more people than traffic accidents, so cycling is a fantastic, safe way to stay healthy.
And as with the cyclist on the lovely, wide bike lane above, we can just zip right past the cars anyway.
Meanwhile, back at the poetry... For me, when considering Smell in relation to urban cycling in Copenhagen, one thing pops instantly into my mind. Perfume.
Not a single day passes without perfume wafting up my nose on the bike lanes, and I'm not exaggerating. Cycling here is a fashionable affair [as if you haven't noticed that already] and perfume or cologne are second nature.
Whether having a fellow Copenhagener overtake me or just following in the slipstream, perfume adds aromatic colour to the urban landscape. Even waiting at the red light downwind of another cyclist, the scent of their perfume, or even their shampoo, often drifts your way. Nice aromas but it also heightens that sense of being close to your fellow citizens. It's personal, somehow, even if you're strangers.
I can't honestly remember any negative smell experiences involving sweat or body odour.
Certainly during the summer, the scent of suntan lotion is everywhere in the afternoons when people are heading home from the beaches.
Like in the post about Taste, I'm quite convinced that I can smell the seasons. The most strikingly aromatic season has to be autumn. The sweet organic smell of fallen leaves, intensified after the rain. The cooler air somehow sharpening the scent.
Surely we can taste sunlight? Whether in high-summer, mid-winter or in the early days of spring?
We can certainly smell the woods and the fields when we take shortcuts to work, and the seasons possess each their own unique combination of odours.
I'm quite sure we can agree that we can smell the rain.
I have this thing about water. Wherever possible I like to ride past it. Riding over the bridges in Copenhagen you'll always see people glancing to their right at the harbour. I suppose it's an addendum to the post about Sight, but the harbour has changeable scents, too. The salt water smell is vague and suggestive in the winter and richer in texture in the summer. The above film is comprised of stills that I took over six months on my way to work. I can smell the sea water just looking at the film.
A few years ago I rode in another direction out of town to work, past a lake outside the city limits. The scents were just as remarkable and rememberable - the latter word was not a word until just now - as on the harbour.
In the post about Taste, coffee was mentioned, and that applies to Smell. Whether your own coffee on the bike or someone next to you. Not a bad aroma.
Transporting a power drill has never... ever... looked this elegant.
Regarding an earlier post about Copenhageners eating and especially drinking coffee on their bikes, one of our readers fired off this link to us.
"It may seem unlikely, but simply clutching a warm cup of coffee can bring on a flood of warm feelings, U.S. researchers said on Thursday in a finding that suggests a strong link between physical and emotional warmth.
"Physical warmth can make us see others as warmer people, but also cause us to be warmer -- more generous and trusting -- as well," said John Bargh, a professor of psychology at Yale University in Connecticut, whose research appears in the journal Science."
Each October, on the Friday before the kids' autumn holidays, Copenhagen features Culture Night - Kulturnat. It's a great evening where everything is open until midnight. Museums, castles, exhibitions, the parliament, you name it. Streets are closed off and Copenhageners walk or ride around from event to event. Needless to say, the bicycles reign supreme. It's festive and lovely and all in the name of culture.
The sleek look of the Copenhagen autumn. Black tights and leggings in boots are all the rage on the bike lanes of the Danish capital this year. The skirtguards of the city sigh a lonely sigh and resign themselves to waiting for the flowing, billowing skirts of the next distant summer. Although with a secret hope that the winter will be cold so that the cyclists will don long coats that require protection. And a broken chainguard is of little concern. It's just a bike. The most important thing is YOU on the bike. Photos by Lars D. Terkelsen.
Here's a cool little video I shot the other day. One of the main streets leading to the city centre features 35,000 cyclists each day. We have a Green Wave where if you cycle 20 km/h you'll hit green lights all the way. Have a look at the fantastic flow of bikes in the morning rush hour.
The music is Danish. The first track is a group called Ibens. The song is "Jeg savner min blå cykel" or I miss my blue, blue bicycle. An ode to the bicycle of childhood/youth. The second track is Tue West with "Sæt dig bag på min cykel" or Get up on the back of my bike... and enjoy it.
The cape lives on despite being sooo last year. We don't mind at all when it looks this splendid. The bow in the hair completes the classy outfit. If you're wondering, the heavily-laden bicycle in the middle, up front, is a postman. Four panniers and a bag on the front rack. As seen here, too.
The sun is shining and, although the air is cooler, there are some Copenhageners that haven't quite made the jump to autumn just yet. Luckily.
Waiting for the light to change along the one of the busiest streets in the nation need not be a stressful affair. The golden light of a late-autumn evening shines on this couple who walked slowly along outside my flat. She didn't need to pedal, he just pulled her along as they spoke in a quiet, intimate tone.
We added a few more t-shirt designs for gentlemen and ladies to our online shop. The idea above is that if you melt a car, you'll have enough metal to weld 118 bicycles. Frightfully unscientific but fun all the same.
How to Wait at a Red Light. No hurry. As ever, we checked in with Marc at Amsterdamize.com to see what the Danes with the different language are doing. Love this shot.
The original Legoland amusement park is celebrating 40 years this year. A perfect opportunity to repost this shot. Cycle Chic is everywhere in the Danish nation. Even at Legoland. The cycling girl is such an iconic figure in Danish history that she is present in town and city settings all over the park.
For some strange reason that now escapes me, I ended up on a page on the Cannondale website - a bike brand, apparently. No wonder we don't see many around here. It's a FAQ about choosing the right bike, including such pearls of useless text as: "Because we are obsessed as you are about your bike's weight, we implore you to go visit your local Cannondale Dealer to help you determine the specific weight of any bike you may be considering. We know you'll be impressed."
"Individual fitting of a bicycle is a step-wise process and a series of compromises. Professional guidance DOES simplify the process and we encourage you to be fit properly by a trained bicycle professional."
"Your body type is the only factor that does not change. Your inseam to height ratio, the length of your arms, the size of hands, the size of your torso etc. all factor into determining the correct fit of a bike."
"As a result, Cannondale highly suggests that you not rely on fit charts, but instead seek professional guidance and recommendations from an experienced bicycle shop."
"Buying a Cannondale is an investment in your recreational pleasure. Fitting a Cannondale should be like fitting a wedding gown, or an expensive suit. It should fit the individual as well as either of these other fine items."
If I'm going to use a bike for competitive racing, this might make sense. But otherwise it's merely an excerise in Terminology Folly as we posted about previously. If you think about it, there are either hundreds of millions of really stupid people who dare to buy their bikes without 'fittings' involving 'measuring hands' or there is a handful of really silly bike websites. My money is on the latter. [Ironically the word 'latter' means laughter in Danish.]
We offer here irrefutable proof that there is an autumnal feel sneaking into the city. The weather is lovely at the moment and there are still thousands of cyclists wearing their summer flip-flops but the classic Copenhagen boot is reappearing again. One of the surest signs that Copenhageners are adjusting to cooler times. Above, the boots compliment the short skirt and the poncho. Somewhere in between summer and autumn.
It's certainly not cold enough for tights just yet. There must be a name for this in-the-middle period between hot and cool. Late-summer, early autumn... they don't cut it. Any ideas? The Shift Cycle? The gradual shift to warmer clothes? And not all the boots have to been high. Or maybe they do. Tall, warm, soft boots to counter the miniskirts ventilational aspects. [Note here how the construction workers drape the cables high over the bike lane so as not to disrupt the cyclists. It's the law.] And speaking of autumn, here's a great indication that it'll be getting wetter soon. This is from a free magazine called Kiwi, published by a supermarket. It's mostly for women and in the Readers' Tips and Tricks section, a woman sent this tip in.
"When it rains I just wrap a thick elastic around my pedal. It helps keep my feet from slipping."
Wonderful. In one of the world's wealthiest countries and a nation with proud design traditions all you need is a thick elastic on your pedals when it rains. No fancy, expensive gear. Just be practical and sensible and off you go. Oh, and it works with boots, too.
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