8 March 2009

Frozen Cycle Chic in Canada and Alaska


What a lovely photo from Tapia in Anchorage, Alaska. Here's what she wrote to us:
"I thought Cycle Chic might enjoy this picture of me leaving to go watch the Iditarod...the world's longest sled-dog race. People amass on downtown Anchorage and watch the racers at a ceremonial start. Lots of Winter fashion, insane amounts of fur, but I only saw one bicycle - how sad!"
Thanks for the brilliant photo, Tapia!

And here's two photos from Reuben. He says:
"I discovered your wonderful site recently and all the snowy photos remind me of an unfortunate four frozen months I spent in Calgary, Canada last winter. I was delighted to discover that the best way to avoid the psychopathic pick-up truck drivers on the streets of Calgary was to ride on the frozen Elbow River (which seemed pretty exotic to a New Zealander). I would ride with my flatmate on the handlebars (she reckons once her bum stops fitting in the curve of the handlebars she’ll have to start riding herself) of a lovely ancient bike that came with the house.

Your beautiful Copenhagen photos seem all the more foreign now that I live in Sydney, Australia – home to the original bike-hating motorists and the world’s worst cycling infrastructure. I’m trying to Copenhagenize myself but it’s quite hard here... it’s too hot to ride in my work clothes and when I don’t wear a helmet the other cyclists shake their heads like I’m crazy (interestingly, the police don’t seem to care about enforcing this silly law). I’ve also paid a visit to the local Velorbis dealer here so hope to be in possession of one of those glorious machines soon, to go with my two Copenhagenize t-shirts and poster."


Thanks for these great shots, Reuben!

Last but not least we have this great shot of a Danish Nihola trike in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan from Roger:
"Just thought I would show you some pictures of Danish bikes in Canada. They work great even though its -40 and the snow is deep. We love our Nihola. It has allowed us to remain car free even with a baby on the way."
Brilliant stuff, Roger! Thanks!
Canadians can check out Fourth Floor Distribution in Toronto if they fancy getting a Nihola for themselves.

It's great to see Cycle Chic Extreme from far flung places. Regular people in regular clothes doing what people have been doing for 120 years - just riding a bike. And looking good doing so.

1 comment:

spiderleggreen said...

Great pics. I'm thinking it must be real, real cold in Calgary, because there's no way I'd think about riding on the Mississippi. We had a cyclist go through the ice and drown last year. There is now a ghost bike to mark the spot.

There's a Scandinavian proverb that says that no matter how cold it gets, you just have to put on more clothes. And these folks prove it. Great example.