I’ve been away from the blog for a bit, busy with teaching, writing and most recently, continuing my love affair with Scandinavia. This was my third time in that part of the world. Copenhagen is a charmingly beautiful city and it’s easy to see how Hans Christian Andersen was so inspired there. This time I attended a friend’s wedding in Denmark and visited some other friends in Sweden, where I was once again impressed by the bike culture. Nearly every road has a dedicated bike lane, and most Danes in Copenhagen use bicycles as their primary mode of transportation. They ride bikes in high heels, dresses, business suits, and pouring rain. Children, groceries and dogs are piled into the amazing Christiania bikes, built in the free city of Christiania (whose very existence is another fascinating aspect of Danish culture; the American government would never stand for such a thing!) Back to the bikes, though. My friend Anja says they have a saying: “There’s no such thing as bad weather–only bad preparation.” I’m trying to adopt a little of that attitude now that I’m back home.
awesome cargo bikes!
Speaking of cargo bikes, the son of a guy I know here in town (Wilmington) is making Mundo bikes, “designed to promote affordable, scaleable transportation for cargo and people”.
The plan is to make these available in developing countries, but Craig (the dad) can be seen tooling around town on them, most recently at the river-to-sea ride. They’re awesome!
They look awesome:
http://www.yubaride.com/utility-bicycles-models.html
Very cool! These Christiania bikes are about $2-$3,000. Yikes. Plus we’d need a bike-friendly place to ride them.