16 January 2008

Winter Is No Excuse for Not Riding

Wheel.Heel.Bike.Snow. (by [Zakkaliciousness])
I thought this photo from last winter appropriate, seeing as how I'm currently soaking up the sun on the Red Sea in Egypt for two weeks.

Snow is no reason to stop the bikes. We have funky little snowploughs designed exclusively for our bike lanes and they are frightfully effective.

And we are good to our vegetation. I'm sure this is a feature in other cities, too, but at the onset of winter all trees and bushes in the city that line streets or bike lanes are shielded from slush and salt. They're removed again in the spring. Note the black shield on the right. In other places they use woven bamboo or sticks.

Winter? Bring it on.

The beach on the Red Sea? I'm on it.

8 comments:

WestfieldWanderer said...

[sigh] If only...

In [you-know-where] the roadside bike lanes are a repository for all sorts of detritus. The "off-highway" routes don't even get adopted by the local authorities and thus never even get the autumn leaves swept. Basic maintenance on the Sustrans Cycle Notwork is left to unpaid volunteers...

I could go on but we'd all end up slashing our wrists...

WestfieldWanderer said...

...oh...forgot to say...

Enjoy your holiday - don't forget the postcard...
:-)

lillie said...

I am packing my bags and moving to Copenhagen as I write this email. :):):) I am so jealous of this city and yet at the same time I adore this blog and summit myself to jealousy on a daily basis. lol

I could only wish that Des Moines, Iowa had the beautiful and safe bike lanes that your lovely city has given to the people of Copenhagen. Bike lanes and keeping bikers safe are not a priority of my city. Ho,Hum!!!!

Thanks for the great site!!

My Best,

lillie (an anti-spandex gal)

p.s. The only time your shoe shoud attach to your pedal is when your high heal gets caught.

Gratistotal said...

It is exactly what i think about:
no excuses!!

Anonymous said...

How much snow does Copenhagen get in winter? This is the first photo I've seen with any on the ground, and nothing compared to what I get.

M'dame Jo said...

Here (Lausanne, Switzerland), roads are cleared by pushing the snow *on* the bike lanes. We don't get much snow at low altitude though.

Anonymous said...

Hello, I'm writing from Spain. First of all I'd like to congratulate you for the pictures.
I sent some of the photos to my friends to convince them to use their bike. Here in Spain bikes are only toys one uses on weekends.Very sad...
We even can't complain about bike lanes, because they simply don't exist.
lidia

Colville-Andersen said...

Thanks for all the comments.
Denmark is, climate speaking, alot like Vancouver or Seattle.

Rainy and windy in the winter. We do get snow on occasion but that seems to be less and less as the years go on. Back in the 1940's and before that winters were accompanied by a couple of metres of snow.

Now we may get 50-100 cm of snow in a snowstorm over a few days, but that is rare.

Regardless of how much snow we get, there are bike lane snowploughs to take care of it.