Global Cycle Chic Guest Photos

Time for some guest photos sent to us from around the world or posted in our Flickr group. Copenhagen Cycle Chic goes global. Thanks for thinking of us and keep the guest photos coming!

Constantin sent in this photo of his wife, Verena returning from her 10 km [each way] daily ride to work. She rides a 1998 replica of the first mountain-bike, "THE
KLUNKER" by Gary Fisher. With style, selbstverständlich.

Putting the Oh! back into Ottawa. Thanks to Chris. The lady is riding a fine Skeppshult bicycle from Sweden.

And here's some Global Cycle Chic photos from our Flickr friends:

The 10 Cent Designer in Calgary, Canada. Calgary seems to be doing just fine in the Cycle Chic department. Note: guest photos with cowboy hats will NOT be blogged. :-)

Montrealcykler in, quelle surprise, Montréal. Proprietor of the Montreal Cykler blog.

Michael from NYC and the Drunk and in Charge of a Bicycle blog. It's not Michael in the photo, it's one of his roommates on her new Velorbis Victoria.

La Meow in the States. Vintage Queen of the Internet! :-)

Elinor Zach in NYC.

JanneM in Osaka.

Rain and Not

A spot of light rain. Which only seems to bother the chap on the left.

Peeking out of the Nihola in a rain shower.

Your paths are always crossing in Copenhagen.

Checking text messages is almost as important as riding your bike in Copenhagen. Almost.

Bicycle Togetherness

I seem to have run into a flurry of cycling couples over the past few days. It only serves to underline how sociable cycling can be, whether they're both cycling or just one of them. It's not quite the same as driving down the motorway with your friend in the lane next to you. Here you're chatting, interacting, moving from A to B and back again together. To work, to the cinema, to a café, to a nightclub, what have you.

And you do it regardless of age.

With those you know or those you hope to get to know even better.

And you do it on bike lanes wide enough for two or even three.

And if your friend or loved one isn't available, you can always take their bike for a ride instead.

Copenhagen Skies

One of the primary joys of urban cycling is that your view is not restricted. You move along under the open skies. Wind in your hair, squinting into the sun or the rain, unconstrained by a roof, windows or doors.

Racing the storm clouds.

Up front and personal is the best way to ride.

Age and grace with a spot of funk.

Parking Made Elegant

There are few places in the world where the simple act of parking a bike is elevated to poetry, elegance and grace.

The Art of Parking Your Bike And Removing Your Bag From The Basket.

The Art of Double Decker Bike Parking At A Train Station.

The Art of Walking Away From Your Bike After Parking It.

The Art of Guarding Your Valuable Parking Spot.

The Art of Avoiding Bike Racks and Dogs Guarding Them #01

The Art of Avoiding Bike Racks and Dogs Guarding Them #02

The Art of Trying To Find Your Bike.

The Art of Removing Your Bike From The Bike Rack.

The Art of Buttoning Up Before Riding Away From the Bike Rack.

The Art of Sending a Text Message Before Riding Away From The Bike Rack.

The Art of Riding Away From The Bike Rack.

Copenmonday

A purposeful urban stride.

I'm sure their destination will be pleasant, but the journey together is, too.

Dapper chap on the King's New Square.

Three Copenhageners.

Funk is in the new punk.

City Centre Moments

Push bike, ride bike, no bike.

Cyclist styling [as opposed to speeding] her way down a summer side street.

On the right: Style.
On the left: Speed [and sweaty testicles]

Copenhagen Coffee Drinking: Walk for a bit with your coffee, sipping it steadily until the level of liquid is reduced sufficiently so that you can get on your bike and ride without coffee spilling out.

Downtown

The heart of Copenhagen is a cosy network of pedestrianized streets.

Pause for chat on the mobile before heading out onto the bike lanes on King's New Square.

Funky design shop with funky bike accessories; baskets, bike seat covers in animal shapes, bike bells and horns.

Rückenfigur Redux

For a long while the visual style of this blog was dictated by 'Rückenfigur', or 'back figure'. Shooting people from the back. It's been a while since I've taken any like this, as even fine visual concepts have to evolve. But here are a few from the other day.

There were a couple of reasons for this 'rückenfigur' angle. As mentioned previously we are, by and large, on our bikes while we shoot. Waiting for the light to change, flying along the bike lanes. It's a practical issue, really. It's a tad difficult to take photos backwards while riding a bike.


Apart from that, we fancy the aesthetic value of the shots of peoples' backs and there are two specific artistic inspirations for this.

One is the aforementioned 'Rückenfigur'. It's a concept often related to romantic painters such as Caspar David Friedrich and aims to make visible what the person featured is looking at. We're sharing their view, as it were. There's a cool Flickr group dedicated to it.

The other one originates with the Chinese poet Zhu Ziqing and his poem 'Seeing Father From The Back' from 1925. There is a term in Chinese called 'Backsight', meaning basically the same thing as 'rückenfigur'. There is also a cool Flickr group on this angle.

The very first Cycle Chic photo was unplanned and a lucky coincedence in a sea of street photography.

But it launched a visual style and a subject matter and this blog.

Summerliciousness

She is either on her way home from the beach or on her way home from work, via the beach.

We may never know the truth.


Danish girls, rest assured, are quite good at putting their foot down.

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.