Cycling Poise

Photographically speaking, it's not an instant Cycle Chic classic. But I keep returning to it in my head. For the poise. The poise.

Look at the lines. Such elegant lines. Sitting up straight like her mother taught her. Pedalling with true Style Over Speed. Taking it easy. Oh, the lines. Can't get much closer to a 90 degree angle.


Then I remembered this one from a week or so ago. It hammers home the point that cycling doesn't have to be a hunched over, adrenaline-based, testosterone-driven activity.

Here's a quote from an American book on ‘How to bicycle’ from 1892, by L. F. Korns, as seen on Quickrelease.tv:

“As a means of pleasure, cycling stands in the foremost rank, but in common with all the great pleasures, it may easily stand in the foremost in abuse. The desire to ride at an unreasonably high speed may become morbid... The ever lasting scorcher, bent like a hoop, and with sunken cheeks, ought to be quite sufficient warning against this abuse.”

No 'scorchers' and thank goodness for that. Cycle like you walk. Head raised high.

Three Copenhageners, One Location

Cycling past a sewing machine shop never looked this good.

Three different hats, same snowstorm.

Today we're still rather chuffed about being included in The Guardian/Observer's Top Ten Fashion Bloggers list. Sweet.

My friend Jamie sent us this great quote:

"Photography as a fad is well-nigh on its last legs, thanks principally to the bicycle craze."
Alfred Stieglitz - The American Annual of Photography, 1897

Sorry, Alfred. You were a bit off, mate.

New York Dane - Cycle Chic NYC

Photo © Copenhagen Cycle Chic / Theis Mortensen

A lovely shot of the Danish singer Ane Trolle in New York City. Cool girl on a cool bike. Ane sings in Ja' Confetti and she has feat. on Trentemøller tracks, too.

My mate Theis took this photo of her in New York City. Theis is a cinematographer and we're currently shooting 22 episodes of a science programme for kids called Volt [premiere in Denmark this Sunday on TV2 at 09:25 if you have kids between 6-10 years old!!], which is why I haven't had time to reply to all your lovely comments as of late.

This quote was posted in my Slow Bicycle Movement Facebook group. Quite brilliant and quite an apt description of Copenhagen and Cycle Chic, as well:

"The secret of riding a bicycle as an adult is to pedal just hard enough to keep the machine upright, then to increase speed very gradually, but without becoming too breathless to hold a conversation or hum a tune."
From The Discovery of France by Graeme Robb.

Aerial Cycle Chic and a Telling Quote

A new angle on Cycle Chic. I was atop some buildings last August, shooting some footage for an upcoming film about cycling in Copenhagen for the city's Bicycle Office. I snapped some stills while I was at it.

This stretch was in the process of being renovated, thus the odd scribbles on the asphalt.

Simplicity. Bicycle. Copenhagener. Bicycle Symbol.

I just finished a fantastic novel - The Impressionist, by Hari Kunzru. Nothing to do about bicycles, but part of it takes place in Oxford in the early 1920's. This passage is splendid and as you can see on this blog, it is history repeating itself.

"Then, all of a sudden, something rare and signifigant happens. Like one of those minor celestial bodies whose trajectory requires slide rules and conversion tables to calculate, Johnathan, homeless particle, undergoes a collision. It is an event which changes everything, for ever.

"It begins with a bell, and the sound of a chain in need of oil. Turning the corner outside the Ashmolean Museum is a bicycle, and on the bicycle is a girl. Bridgeman steps out of her way, and for a moment she looks him straight in the eye. Blue eyes. His world turns syrupy and slow-flowing. She is wearing a white summer dress, and over it an academic gown. On her head is a wide-brimmed hat, with yellow silk flowers around the crown.

"As she wobbles towards Cornmarket, he confirms that she is beautiful, and a string section materializes in his forebrain, drenching him in grand and stylized emotion. Beneath the hat her cheeks are flushed with the effort of cycling, and as her feet work the pedals the white cotton of her dress stretches with the line of her thighs, taut and slack, taut and slack."
From Excerpt from 'The Impressionist' by Hari Kunzru.

Except for the academic gown, this scene could take place on any - every - street corner in Copenhagen. 365 days a year.

Copenhagen Goodness

Last Friday I was heading out to a friend's place for a bit of red wine and FIFA on the Xbox when I happened upon this charming, lovely couple in the twilight near the bridge over the harbour. I stopped them and asked if I could film them for a promotional cycling video I've been asked to make. They obliged. They are everything that is cool about cycling in Copenhagen. Relaxed, smiling, sweet and just plain cool.


Two Cyclists Surveying The Boulevard


The first photo is of one of our famous Weather Girls - Vejrpigerne - who stand atop the Richshuset Building on the City Hall Square. I was up there filming for the promotional cycling video and the Cycling Girl is just gorgeous even after over 75 years. We have an earlier post about her here. The other photo is a modern version of the Cycling Girl surveying the same Boulevard from street level. Cool, casual, Copenhagenesque.

Promoting Cycling Positively

This photo of morning rush hour reminds up of a quote from the novel Gudrun, by Johannes V. Jensen in 1936:

"And like a large home Copenhagen begins the day's work. Already down on the streets is one at home, with loose hair, long sitting rooms through which one travels socialbly on a bike. In offices, in workshops, in boutiques you are at home, in your own home, one large family that has divided the city among itself and runs it in an orderly fashion, like a large house. So that everyone has a role and everyone gets what they need. Copenhagen is like a large, simple house."

Over at Copenhagenize.com we've been having a series of posts about how or how not to promote cycling positively and showing different examples. We here at Copenhagen Cycle Chic are proud to live in a city with such fantastic safety statistics. The majority of Copenhageners, when polled, say that they feel secure and safe in the traffic. We know we certainly do. We are also proud to lead the way in showing how cycling in Copenhagen is safe, effortless and healthy. Promoting cycling as it should be promoted.

We have a good mention in today's Irish Times, which is readable online here. Doing our bit for the cause.

Our Cycling Legends

Copenhagen Cycle Chic will be present at the world's largest bike industry fair in Germany - Eurobike - in partnership with Velorbis. We'll have a massive wall-size banner at the Velorbis stand and we whipped up these flyers for the sports geek crowd. "Our cycling legends dress differently than your cycling legends". A tribute to the everyday dress code of Copenhagen cyclists and a nod to the iconic and historical figure of the Danish cycling girl. There is nothing quite so opposite to spandex than heels.

Straight-Talking, Straight-Sitting

Fred Mathes is 92. He also lives in America. These two facts don't stop him from riding his bicycle. A lot. Every day. This chap is Style Over Speed in a nutshell, and has been for decades before we starting calling it 'Style Over Speed' here at Copenhagen Cycle Chic. He still rides his 3-speed Schwinn, which is 56 years old and he doesn't feel he needs a newer bicycle.

“Did you hear about the centipede who fell in a ditch?” he asked. “He couldn’t get up. He was too exhausted trying to figure out what foot to put first. Same thing with a bike. Who needs 18 gears?”

He does not favour Lycra or cycling shoes. His riding clothes are whatever he happens to be wearing, usually a pair of trousers (he rolls up one pant leg), a long-sleeved western shirt and a stylish cotton hat from Italy.


It's interesting to remember that when Mr Mathes was born, bikes ruled the world, even in America. Bicycle Culture 1.0 was in full swing and millions rode around daily on simple 1 or 3 speeds, up and down hills, in all weather. Knowing that fact and seeing Mr Mathes doing his daily thing is fantastic inspiration.
Read the whole article on the Times Record News - Wichita Falls - website.

MY MOTHER TAUGHT ME TO SIT UP STRAIGHT
Mr Mathes, above, has it sussed, but then he has been riding long before the sports industry starting telling people they had to lean forward in awkward, uncomfortable and unnatural positions in order to 'cycle' - not to mention worrying about how much a bike 'weighs' or that you don't need chain guards or kickstands. And so on. My dear, darling mother had is sussed and I was always encouraged to sit up straight. Posture is an important part of body language.

If you like to ride fast and do so for training or racing, well... that's different, isn't it? You'll get a bike that suits that purpose, which is lovely. I used to race competively when young and enjoyed it thoroughly. But for the vast majority of people who ride daily or harbour secret thoughts about doing so, riding in comfort is the way to go. Style over speed. Elegance over exertion.

”In the late 19th century, large numbers of women were already using bicycles to get to work, women office workers and shop assistants wending their way each weekday morning from the suburbs to the town. They found the bicycle a convenient form of transport for distances up to, say, ten miles”.
Plucked from John Woodeforde's book ”The Story of the Bicycle”, 1970
And that was on machines that would seem monstrous to us now. Not to mention the fact that they were wearing frightfully heavy dresses and thick fabrics. If they could do it on those bikes, in those clothes, there are little excuses for not cycling chic today.

"One sits on it either straight-backed, as though you're at a festive dinner party, or hunched foward, as though you just failed an exam. All according to the situation, your inclination or your inborn characteristics."
Johannes Wulff's 'Paa cykle / On the Bike' 1930

One charming nickname for normal bikes is "sit up and beg" bikes. Indeed. Sit up and beg for fewer cars, bike lanes, a steady tailwind and lovely cyclists to ride with.

More Optimism from H. G. Wells

"Cycle tracks will abound in Utopia."

Another telling, visionary quote from H.G. Wells.
He didn't forsee that they would be painted blue as the sky and the sea but right he was all the same. [or green as in Portland!]

Here's to Optimism

'When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race.' So wrote H.G Wells, and we here at Copenhagen Cycle Chic agree completely.

Casual Copenhagen

A cyclist completely at ease with herself and her role in the life of this city.

I've noticed a few funny groups on Facebook regarding bike culture:
From Sweden - My Bike Was Stolen In Uppsala / I Stole A Bike In Uppsala.
"Let's all just work this mess out." Thieves and the thieved. Together at last.
From Denmark: [translates as:]Hey! Is there a sign on my bike reading 'Trash Can'?
For people who get tired of their baskets getting filled with trash.


Just your average Copenhagener.
Here's a great historical quote on cycling in the Take Back the Bike Culture category:
The whole nervous system is highly benefited by bicycling. The rider must constantly use the senses of hearing, seeing, and feeling in order to avoid collisions, direct his machine, and keep his equilibrium. This exercise, therefore, is in a high degree apt to draw the mind away from its usual pursuits and cares of daily life. It is highly exhilirating and promotes sociability, since it is both pleasanter and safer to ride in company than alone. In women it is apt to overcome the impulsivenness and whimsicality which render so many of them unhappy. ...Bicycling is no longer a mere fashion that may fall into disuse and give way to a new one. It is a wholesome and inspiring exercise, and has provided of practical value as a means of rapid locomotion.
--Dr. Henry J. Garrigus, in the January Forum, from Public Opinion, 30 January 1896

I whipped up another poster. For those who love bike frames. Available at our Online Boutique, as always.

More History Repeating Itself

My Cycling Heritage - 2, originally uploaded by westfieldwanderer.

This wonderful photo was scanned in by a mate, WestfieldWanderer, from his family album. Anno 1947.

There are often articles in newspapers and magazines about how cycling is 'hot', cycling is 'trendy', cycling has finally become 'mainstream'.

Bollocks. Urban cycling in everday clothes is not a new phenomenon. At some point in the not so distant past members of your family - yes, you and you and you - rode their bikes each day.

Devoid of cycling gear and fancy equipment. Just good sturdy bikes and their regular clothes. Skirts and suits. To the shops. To work. To visit friends.

Daily cycling isn't 'mainstream' all of a sudden. It has been for more than a century. Perhaps it has faded out a bit in some countries, but it's not new.

Which makes it incredibly easy to merely start doing it again.

”In the late 19th century, large numbers of women were already using bicycles to get to work, women office workers and shop assistants wending their way each weekday morning from the suburbs to the town. They found the bicycle a convenient form of transport for distances up to, say, ten miles”.

Plucked from John Woodeforde's book ”The Story of the Bicycle”, 1970

And that was on machines that would seem monstrous to us now. Not to mention the fact that they were wearing frightfully heavy dresses. If they could do it on those bikes, in those clothes, there are little excuses for not cycling chic today.

Copenhagen Bridges Now and Then

"In the stream of cycles over Knippels Bridge we see Gudrun again, pedaling steadily. As though her and the machine are one. She is Copenhagen and Copenhagen is her."
Johannes V. Jensen, from the novel Gudrun, 1936.

The photo above is Knippels Bridge these days. Still a steady stream of cyclists each day. Below is a great video showing bike rush hour in Copenhagen on said bridge.

Here's the same bridge in 1935:

In the aforementioned novel 'Gudrun' there's a great passage comparing Copenhageners to schools of fish:
"If one is bumped by a car, the whole school is bumped. It's a nerve one has in the elbow, a flock function, which Copenhageners have learned so well that it is second nature".

Here's one of the other bridges over the harbour:


And this is the newest car-free bridge over the harbour, one side for pedestrians [not visible, it's on the other side of the white barrier] and the other for bikes.

A Number of Things

I don't really look at the stats of this blog too much. Once in awhile it's interesting. For ages there was only 1 visitor from North Dakota. Now, out of the blue, there are four. I'm fascinated. It's a massive statistical increase. Copenhagen Cycle Chic is BIG in North Dakota. North Dakotans! Come forward! Let us salute you!


After a splendid exchange of comments regarding chainguards, skirtguards and fenders, I took a photo of all the fenders in the bike shed. There are four bike sheds outside our flat, but I only took photos in the one. I was well chuffed that the Great Joe Breeze popped by for a comment. (okay, I had to google him, but my American mates filled me in... what a career he has had!)



"Bicycle posters flatter the liberated woman and her beauty and independence compliment the product's quality. In addition, the artwork shows how easy it is for the feminine sex to handle the bicycle, just as the women pictured are a testament to the femininity that isn't lost, but rather is increased, by cycling.

"The era's modern man, in sporty outfits, also features on bike posters but he is often given the role of the unlucky cyclist with a broken chain or a puncture. More often than not he rides behind the woman, who either overtakes him or is in front of the peloton.

"At the moment the concept of the Danish Cycle Girl was created, the bike poster visualised her more convincingly than any other medium."
Lars Dybdahl in "Den danske plakat" - The Danish Poster.

And remember, bloggers and blogettes! Nobody likes a whiner. :-)

Classic, Classy, Copenhagener

Classic, Classy, Copenhagener, originally uploaded by [Zakkaliciousness].

"One must never ride into the back wheel of a loved and charming woman, unless one is convinced in advance that one's love for said woman will always be, and must be, unhappy."
Johannes Wulff in "Paa cykle" [On the Bike], from 1930

Why am I quoting literature?

Another Copenhagen supermum in her natural environment. Elegant boots with sharp heels, leather trousers, fur scarf, this winter's popular red gloves, oversized sunglasses and... a chunky old Bobike seat for her kid[s] resting on an anonymous Raleigh.

Oh, and isn't it time for another wallpaper?