Today, Cycle Chic turns six. On this day in 2006, that one photo that launched it all was taken on Åboulevarden in Copenhagen.
We're eating lovely Danishes and drinking coffee here at our offices this morning and enjoying the birthday. In celebration of the day, we're giving away six copies of Cycle Chic - The Book and six copies of the lovely album "Bicycle" by Nora and One Left. This morning, I was taking a photo of the books and The Lulu stepped in and suggested that she hold them. I happily agreed.
We're inspired by our friend Lars AP and his growing Fucking Flink movement here in Denmark. "Flink" means "Nice" in Danish and Lars encourages people to just be nice to each other.
Here's Lars at TEDx Copenhagen this year.
So, in the spirit of Niceness, you can win a book and a CD for someone you love. A friend, a member of your family or your main squeeze. Whoever inspires you.
Tell us why you think they should get the book and why you want to give it to them.
The best, most inspired pitches will win a book.
You'll have to check back on Friday to see if you won. We'll post the winners and tell them how to contact us about receiving the book.
We'll give away two copies here on the blog, two on the Facebook group and two on Instagram - @zakkatography.
Enter to win in the comments. We'll choose a winner on Friday!
Thanks to everyone for making Cycle Chic what it is and what it has become. It's been a wild and delightful ride for the past six years and we're still loving the tailwind.
19 comments:
A chance encounter
A few years ago I was riding the streets of Bucharest on my wrong size bike, in search of a shop that I thought would sell me a nice transportation bicycle. I found the shop on a dead end street, late in the evening, and some guys setting up a bike. One of them was just visiting and happened to be a passionate custom bike builder, using vintage italian frames. He was riding a fixie. What's that?, I asked. He gave it to me for a ride and I was immediately hooked. Two weeks later I was riding my own vintage custom build fixed gear beauty. I ride it all year long to work, shopping and other city errands. I want to thank this guy and give him this nice gift from you. He's the one - http://www.facebook.com/doru.popescu.96
Wonderful! Thanks!
come on Mikael, give the book and CD to my Mrs, for keeping everything together while I work non stop on this mad campaign we're on for our cities and children. You see, I'm obsessed with myself and this mission to the point where I can't even even begin to make a list of all the things she does. Please autograph it with some kind of message of commiserations to her.
I want to give the book to the guys of the association theHOWLERS (TARANTO) because with them we are trying to make this city for cycling.
I would love my bike loving boyfriend to have this inspirational book and cd first - then I'd like to do a bookcrossing kind of thing where he'd pass it on to someone he thinks would love reading it or would be interested in it with the idea that they must pass it on to someone else etc...that way heaps of great people get to enjoy it.
This book and CD would be perfect gift to my lovely wife who puts up with my passion for cycling. So much so she is now a keen cyclist herself and our young son (Under 1 the first time he was on the back of a bike) go everywhere on the lovely Blue 'Sit up and Beg' bicycle. Yes I did buy it for her ;o)
I would really love to win this. I'm currently abroad for 6 months, and Cycle Chick actually helps me, when I feel homesick, longing for Denmark and for my beloved bicycle. I love the pictures, and feel inspired to see my commute time riding my bike in new ways. It's stylish, picturerisque and wonderful in all kind of weather. You help to remind me of that! I would love to pass that on to my good friend, who has also been abroad and who returns to Denmark this week. She has been my faithful biking partner for 2 years now, and she deserves to see your pictures - revealing the beauty of the everyday biking that is a part of her life as well!
I would love the book and CD . I have been following cycle chic since the early days . I think it has inspired so many people , I would love to live and work in Copenhagen . I live in hope of the UK following Copenhagen's lead
It would be great if my really good friend Daniel would get this book. He has been working his ass off the last three years and is an inspiring person for a lot of us, meaning friends & family. In the last three years he worked his regular job at an travel agency at day, at night he got his high school diploma and in his little freetime he trained for and finished a couple of Ironmans. Besides that he always managed to be there for his friends and family!
oooh lovely! is this for the U.S too?
I'd love to have one to give to my brand-new husband. He reluctantly started riding along with me on my old teen-sized mountain bike four years ago. Now he has his very own city bike and commutes even farther and faster than me, in style nonetheless. The book and CD I hope will continue to inspire him.
I would like to get a copy to donate to a new coffee/bike shop that just opened here in Omaha Nebraska. It is the first of its kind and I believe it will do a lot to change the culture here in Omaha. (Though I will probably read it before passing it off!)
My grandfather taught me to ride a bike when I was 6 years old. And now I'm the one walking beside her to protect her as a child. I'd love to give this book as a gift to thank her for all the love she gave me!
I think there are probably lots of people on here who deserve a book or CD, but I would like to tell you why I think my dear husband is one of them. Although I think all of us believe in bicycling as a sustainable, sociable, and healthy means of transportation, and clearly we are all fans of Cycle Chic, my husband stands out for his remarkable ability to connect with people and persuade them to start bicycling. While most of us, myself included, tend to feel discouraged at changing the minds of others who are steadfast in their beliefs against cycling and feel a sense of disconnect from them, he has a different mindset and a better attitude. He doesn’t feel those who don’t immediately take to cycling are closed off to him. Instead, he sees their potential and patiently tries to listen and explain why it could work for them. He makes a bridge to who they are as a person, and over time is able to help them imagine that bicycling can truly be a part of their life. With a friendly greeting, he comes around the way and asks them if they are ready to look at some bikes. He wheels his folding bicycle over for them to test ride. His friendliness and enthusiasm towards bicycling is contagious.
It would be Niceness to win this book for Oana, who contributed to the most important days of my life: the day I was born and the day she put the bike in my arms. Oana insisted that her mother gives one more time life of a child, to have a beautiful sister and also a playmate. And she had this chance… 21 years later, she helped me, her little sister, to discover the pleasure of cycling. Even if cycling in Bucharest is not always a bliss, Oana encouraged me. After that, we created together a chic movement inspired by Copenhagen Cycle Chic called
‘Skirt Bike‘- a skirt ride on two wheels which is held every year in 8 cities in Romania and encourages women to cycle. (you can read more about it in this interview – English version: http://skirtbike.ro/blog/hungarian-cycle-chic-interview/ )
From today, Oana is also a mother and she will continue to inspire moms to pedal. I think I’ll make her happy if she receives this beautiful gift from you.
Thanks!
Dear Mikael,
I would like to nominate my wife, Christine St-Jacques who commutes 8km to work every day. That's a decent ride for anyone first thing in the morning, but we live in Ottawa, Canada and when she hopped on her DeVinci this morning, the temperature was -2C. Now, I love riding my bikes, but I am just not as dedicated as Christine is, and I admire her toughness. She even rode to work downtown while she was pregnant with our daughter a couple of years ago, right up to the 8th month (despite my objections!). She'll put her bike in hibernation when the snow flies in a few weeks. Until then, she keeps rolling along, red lights blinking in the rush-hour darkness, and while she may not be as fashionably dressed as many Copenhageners (-ites?), she's a vision of silent speed inspiration to all those in their cars.
Christine gets antsy after a couple of months of not riding, so I am hoping that the Cycle Chic picture-book will tide her over until springtime.
Congratulations on 6years of inspirational photos!
-Jeffrey
I would like a copy for my girl, who rides everywhere and belongs on the pages of Cycle Chic. Unfortunately, we spend a fair amount of time in different cities, Kamloops and Vancouver, BC, Canada (both cities have improved their bicycle infrastructure greatly in recent years). Her bicycle has made many a trip between the two cities. She obtained her bicycle through a trade in program that swaps some of the trade in value of your car for a commuting bicycle to your specifications. Being 5 feet tall she managed to hunt down a properly sized frame, racks, panniers, basket and appropriate gears for the city. Unfortunately, a couple of weeks ago while hauling her bike back to Kamloops on a friend's bike rack it came loose on the highway sustaining damage, but luckily the frame was spared serious damage. Thankfully no one was driving behind her and it seems the commuter accessories (racks, basket) and handlebars took the brunt of the force. She is a dedicated cycle commuter even braving our cold interior winters. Cycling is a dear part of her life and this little gift would light up her face.
I write from Italy, in a region where cycling is part of a rich tradition in the foggy Po Valley up to "passi" of the Dolomites.
But it is in Copenhagen, despite the cold, where I lived in the spirit of ride in freedom and happiness and experience nature.
Four years ago I flew to Denmark to have a child that unfortunately
nature denied me.
Now, thanks to an anonymous Danish'll never know, I have a beautiful daughter
who get in the blood and on her face the sweet spirit of the north face.
In DK I realized my dream and thanks to your blog I keep updated often
on what happens in Copenhagen, dreaming of one day becoming half Danish, like my daughter.
The book i'll give to Bianca, whose eyes remind me of the blue sky and the fresh air of a spring ride in Copenhagen.
Ciao, Sauro
I don't need a book, I just am here to say Happy Anniversary! A lot can change in the world in 6 years - no? Thanks for the inspiration.
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