Hungarian Role Models

We get to meet so many inspiring women and men when Cycle Chic heads out into the world. Not least in Budapest, on the occasion of the Cycle Chic Conference last week.

Above is a wonderful and amazing lady. None other than Júlia Király - the Deputy-Governor of the Hungarian Central Bank. She rolled past the Bicycle Breakfast and we had a good chat about cycling in Budapest and Cycle Chic. What a role model Júlia is.


Meanwhile, elsewhere in Budapest, we bumped into Rebeka Szabó outside a restaurant. Rebeka is an MP in the Hungarian Parliament for the Green Party. She was out for dinner with her partner - both on bicycles, of course.

My kind of MP. Cycle Chic in a nutshell. Regular citizen on a regular bike, contributing to the development of a liveable city.

Ferrara's Fantastic Female Cyclists

The City of Ferrara - Italy's leading bicycle city with 30% modal share for bicycles - is rather extraordinary in many ways. One of the sure signs of a healthy bicycle culture is the so-called "gender split" featuring an equal number of female and male cyclists. In cities like Amsterdam and Copenhagen there are more women on bicycles than men and in Ferrara, the statistics match those two cities - 55% women and 45% men.

While Ferrara has over 20,000 students at the university and the nightlife is suitably lively, it was amazing to see so many "older" bicycle users in the city. Men and women alike. In fact, I've never been anywhere in the world where I've seen so many elderly bicycle users in one spot. Dutch and Danish cities would be hard pressed to match Ferrara on this point.

This has been the case for many, many years but having influential female politicians certainly helps maintain it.

We met with the vice-mayor of the city - at left - and the president of the Province of Ferrara - at right - while in the city. The vice-mayor joked that they don't have a female quota in their politics - but rather a male quota.

Here are some photos of Ferrara's healthy and fabulous bicycle users over "a certain age". Brava!

Impeccable style in traffic.

Red rush with splendid hat.

Still going strong.

Heels and wheels.

Brilliant coat.

Rolling to the market.

Flowers on the basket.

Boris and Kelly in London

Here we have the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson promoting the upcoming Skyride in the city with Kelly Brooks. Ms Brooks has clearly understood the very simple concept of Cycle Chic, as has Boris.

Alas, the journalist at the Metro newspaper who wrote this article clearly hasn't got a clue. Poor thing.

Cycle Chic Goes to Dublin!

What an epic night I had in Dublin a couple of weeks ago. Dublin Cycle Chic Fashion Show kicked off at the splendid City Hall with a fashion show. The good people at Irish department store Arnotts supplied the clothes and top stylist Paula Hughes whipped up a feast for the eyes with the combination of cool clothes and cool Danish bikes - Biomega and Velorbis - as well as Dublin city bikes.

Bicycle advocacy 2.0.


The models were brilliant and they rolled in and out in smashing ensembles. Well done them.

Men in suits were present, as well, as they are at any dapper bicycle event. The Danish Ambassador to Ireland, Niels Pultz gave Ciaran Cuffe - Minister of State with special responsibility for sustainable transport - a ride on a Christiania bike and I was given the pleasure to address the crowd before the kick off.









See the whole series of photos from the fashion show on Flickr as a slideshow!

Thanks to everyone for a brilliant night in Dublin! And remember to enter the Dublin Cycle Chic photo competition over at Flickr.

Dublin Cycle Chic - The Movie

The Velo-City 2010 conference has ended and life returns to normal. I now have time to catch up on some important stuff. Here's a little film made by Dublin City Council about the Dublin Cycle Chic fashion show ten days ago in the Irish capital.

What a town. What a cycling town! Dublin was once one of the great cycling cities of the world. She's well on her way to returning. The bicycle is back and the fact that the City Council and National government supported our Cycle Chic event, along with the Royal Danish embassy is a fantastic, promising sign.

There was also a nice article in the Irish Times about the event.

WIN A BIOMEGA BICYCLE!
At the event we launched another photo competition. Upload your best Cycle Chic photos to the Dublin Cycle Chic Flickr group and on July 31, 2010 we'll pick the best one and reward the Cycle Chicness with a Boston bicycle from iconic Danish bike brand Biomega.

Political Cycle Chic [Cicloeleganza]

Brilliant. Italian Minister of Equal Opportunity, Mara Carfagna on her summer holidays in a bikini, kaftan and a supersize bag. Ms Carfagna is a former model and showgirl but the little weasel Berlusconi brought her into the political limelight by appointing her as a minister in his cabinet.

This kind of photo of Ms Carfagna on a bicycle is the reason that I coined the word 'cicloeleganza' - the Italian version of Cycle Chic.

Grazie mille to Massimiliano for the heads up.

The Danish Minister of Cycle Chic

Don't you wish all politicians looked like this? Dressed in casual, everyday clothes, complete with heels, for a 13 km bicycle ride through Copenhagen last Sunday.

This is our Minister of Climate and Energy, Connie Hedegaard. The hardest working politician in Denmark this year. Travelling around the world to generate support for the upcoming COP15 Copenhagen Climate Conference where we NEED signatures from world leaders to commit to climate change challenges. It didn't go so well in Kyoto in 1997 at first, with many main countries not signing the protocol.

In December 2009, the next major climate conference will take place here in Copenhagen and this time, commitment is much needed, thank you very much.

Oh, and a major dash of Cycle Chic wouldn't hurt, either.

Read more about the bike ride over at Copenhagenize.com.