Nice Coppenhagen Style Bike Commute to Pilates
I rode my bike to Pilates this morning… I am calling it a Coopenhagen style commute, because of a little note I read on the window of the bike shop NEXT TO the pilates studio. The owner of this bike shop is clearly a believer in bicycles as the ultra utilitarian functional device. He has a photo of a woman in Coppenhagen riding her bike to work, along with a well written explanation of why bicycling in Coppenhagen is so different from bicycling in the US (and possibly the rest of the world).
The basic idea of note was that unlike cycling in the US, the people of Coppenhagen don’t think of bicycles as particularly special, high tech, race-inspired, fast, light, or any of the things that the average bicycle shopper is confronted with in the US. In the photo, the woman is not wearing special clothes (or a helmet for that matter), because riding a bike doesn’t require special clothes or shouldn’t. She doesn’t have a bike “computer” or a heart rate monitor, or even a special backpack for carrying her things while she rides her bike… she’s got her purse over her shoulder.
The punch line of course is that if we stopped making such a big deal out of cycling being “special” that maybe more people would do it. It’s lovely sentiment… and it inspired me to pedal home without any sense that I should go faster or stay to the side so I don’t get run over… I decided to just ride, like I was merely “going somewhere”… not commuting… not being alternative… not making a statement. No, I was just going home after pilates class.
Workout:
- Type: Cycle
- Date: 04/10/2008
- Time: 18:16:09
- Total Time: 1:00:00.00
- Distance: 8 miles
- Average Speed: 8 mph
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4 Comments: :
Nice Coppenhagen Style Bike Commute to Pilates
April 10th, 2008 9:58 pm
kimayars says:
Wooooowwww… Brad only going 8mph. I never thought I’d see the day.
I hope you enjoyed your ride.
April 10th, 2008 10:06 pm
seashell says:
Ahhhhh, those Europeans have such a great outlook on life. Riding just for riding. 35 hour work weeks. Siestas. The entire month of August off for vacation………
They don’t need to hustle and bustle and race everywhere. They know how to recreate.
RE-Create. Now, there’s an idea.
Keep it up Brad! You might even create a local following! Ride on.
April 10th, 2008 10:43 pm
Brad Hefta-Gaub says:
I refuse to make excuses… but if you want to belittle me, go ahead… you must remember this:
1) I had not eaten AT ALL yet in the day…
2) the first 4 miles were all up hill.
3) the second 4 miles were after 1 hour of a hard core pilates workout that had a professional Ballet dancer begging for the instructor to stop torturing her… and yes, I was doing the death defying double length straps for pushups AND pullups this time.
And finally, and most importantly… I was taking my time… ON PURPOSE! .. AND NO! I AM NOT BEING DEFENSIVE! STOP SAYING I’M DEFENSIVE… I AM *NOT* — N — O — T — BEING DEFENSIVE!
April 16th, 2008 2:52 pm
Karl McCracken says:
Sounds like a better way to ride. Of course, you DO know all about the Copenhagen Bicycle Culture Blog, don’t you? It’s full of cycleliciousness!