When I Dragged Harry To A Bicycle Race - Svajerløb'13

My friend Harry, a fellow student at the University of Manchester, was in Copenhagen this weekend visiting his girlfriend Helena. Whilst she was at work I thought I'd give it a go convincing him to come along to Svajerløb - the Danish Cargo Bike Championships.
"Hmmm, I don't think bike races are really my thing..."
"Harry, my friend, this is no ordinary bike race!"


Like I said, this was no ordinary bicycle race. Forget spandex and lightweight carbon-fibre frames and think bow ties and colourful cargo bikes. Participants brought along their rides, mainly Bullitts -the crème de la crème of all cargo bikes, to sweat it out for the prestigious title of being King or Queen of the Cargo Bike Championships.


Everyone lining up at the start line. Mental preparation for the route laid out ahead.


Team Bavaria show how teamwork's done whilst swapping riders during the Cargo Bike Rally Race. Nice outfits guys.



After the first lap it got harder as participants added heavy loads to their cargo bikes (well, what else were cargo bikes built for?). Carlsberg crate took first priority of course...just a shame it didn't hold any beer!


Harry seems to be getting into the Svajerløb spirit. Or he's just giving me feedback on the danish hotdog he just had.


The Bullitt. Designed to be the lightest and fastest cargo to speed goods through any city. And former pro-cyclist Brian Holm showed up to participate in the Team Relay, too. As always, Brian is a style icon.


Daniel - One speedy Mofo. Was definitely one to watch.


Then it was the women's turn to race! They took on the tyres and crates with style and grace.


Mikael throwing on the tyres. Like a Boss.


Felix, Clo and I were Team Mikael for the day. Look at that determination! No wonder he's still aching today...


Mikael Coolville-Andersen. Taking in 2 silver medals! Who knew he was both Urban Mobility Rockstar and World-class Cargo Athlete? Well done! Tillykke!


No wonder he's remaining champion and King of the Cargos.


Blowing kisses, always a great way to work the crowd.


Congrats! That calls for some bubbly.


Oi oi, sharing is caring!


So what did Harry think of the day?

"I loved the fact that it was such a playful atmosphere whilst at the same time keeping a serious element of competition. For instance when that one driver began to cycle round super slow to the point when it had the whole Danish crowd laughing at the sheer ridiculousness. I thought the Bullitt was the best of the bunch. I liked that they rage in colours and this cargo bicycle was quite clearly the fastest. The greatest use of inner tubes to hold down heavy loads that I've ever seen!"

 If you too like the look of the Bullitt check out the Larry Vs Harry website here.


If you're inspired by idea of carrying goods around by cargo bike why not enter our Shop by bike photo competition? Send in pics of yourself or friends carrying large or weird goods by bicycle. Check out the FB page here.

Over and Out!

K.E.G. x

Team Love

Last weekend the annual Svajerløb - Danish Cargo Bike Championship was hosted at the old Carlsberg Brewery.  Along with the usual suspects, we had a few surprise guests.  Birte, the lovely bride-to-be, and her girlfriends were heading out, via cargo bike, for her bachelorette party.  The Svajerløb, traditionally a race for bragging rights among the city's most daring bicycle messengers, seemed like an obvious stop for them.

While Birte and her girlfriends didn't take home any medals for their speed, they took first place for Love.  And the lovely bride-to-be did the honors of presenting the medals - Tour de France style.
Congratulations Birte!

More on the history of Copenhagen's bike messengers from Copenhagenize.com

Old School Messenger Cool

Last Saturday the Danish Cargo Bike Championships were held here in Copenhagen and here's the Copenhagenize Red Rum Team posing with my Bullitt cargo bike, together with my son, Felix.

These cargo bike races were a regular event for decades and decades in the city, up until 1960. The bike messengers in Copenhagen would race for bragging rights and honour on old long john bikes, massive cargo bikes and short john delivery bikes.

Our team chose to dress for the occasion. The messengers back in the day were well-dressed, with ties and caps and pressed trousers [we didn't bother with those] and were a smashingly handsome addition to the urban landscape.

They were nicknamed 'svajere' or 'swayers', because of the movement they made when pedalling the massive bikes. Swaying through the streets.

You can read about the dapper history of the Svajere in this post at Copenhagenize and see how frightfully well-dressed they were, especially in the YouTube film at the end. Wouldn't it be brilliant to see bike messengers dressing in style?

The races were a load of fun and it was a great day out. There was the 2 wheeled cargo bike championships, the 3 wheeled championship and the team relay. Copenhagenize Red Rum Team took part in the latter. We stuck to tradition in the races. Basically, you do one lap [1.3 km] with an empty bike and then you load two car tires and a bundle of newspapers onto the bike. Then the remaining three riders do a lap with the heavy load.

The Copenhagenize Red Rum Team in action. Featuring me, Tiago from Brazil, Joel from Ottawa and Jeff from Washington, DC.

We won our heat and then finished fourth in the final. Although we clearly won the style championships... :-)

For more shots from the Cargo Bike Races, check this longer post over at Copenhagenize.com.

Bike Race Poster Selection

Help me out here, readers. Our other blog, Copenhagenize.com, is proud to be one of the sponsors of this year's Svajerløb - Danish Cargo Bike Championships 2010 on June 26, 2010 here in Copenhagen.

I've been whipping together some rough prototypes for posters and here they are. You're all a fantastic, creative bunch so tell me, which one do you like the best? There's a poll at the end of this post.

'Svajerløb' is the name of the century old cargo bike races in Copenhagen, raced by the original bike messengers (seven decades before that Kevin Bacon guy in Quicksilver), the Svajere or The Swayers. Called such because of the way they swaying way they rode their cargo bikes. They were damn sharp dressers, too.

The races are for two-wheeled cargo bikes, three -wheeled and a team relay. You race around a track and then put a pile of car tires on the bike and tie them down before continuing.


Anyway, just look at the designs and give me your gut feeling.



Thanks for taking the time to help us out. Here's some photos from last year's race: