In the Saddle - Copenhagen

Katie Melua sang about bicycles in Beijing, but she should take a trip to Copenhagen!  There are bicycles everywhere.  Kids cycling with parents, professionals sauntering along toward the office, friends cycling together and serious cyclists peddling furiously.  Parents even bring their young babies to daycare in front-facing trailers attached to bikes instead of buggies. 

They’re an amazing invention and make much more sense to me then a trailer attached to the rear of the bike, where you have no idea what is going on with the kids.  The part that the baby sits into is a comfortable seat and the child is strapped in, with a waterproof structure zipped over them.  Most of the bikes I’ve seen seat two kids.

My daughter was in her element cycling on the cycle lanes that run alongside almost every road in Copenhagen.  They suit three bikes abreast, to allow for overtaking, and have their own sets of traffic signals.  As there are a lot of bridges in Copenhagen, there are a lot of steps and every set of steps comes with a special ramp for cyclists to bring their bikes up and down the steps.  Genius!

I would recommend hiring bikes from any bike shop, all over Copenhagen.  For example, Baisikeli advertise Standard or Cargo Bikes (which have a large carrier section on front, which can be used carry other people!) for rental of as little as 6 hours (80kr/300kr), right up to 4 weeks (810kr/4000kr) – www.baisikeli.dk. 

If you’re planning to do a lot of travelling around the city with kids, it’s a lovely way to see everything and the older kids will love the cycling.  Be aware of safety, however, and make sure that everyone uses helmets (not as popular in Copenhagen as in Ireland) and is aware of traffic around them.  If you’re cycling slowly, keep in to the curb to allow others to pass as Danes don’t like to be held up by inexperienced cyclists!

There are free bicycle courses offered in Inner Norrebro between 2^nd March and 29^th June and 3^rd August and 26^th October, every Saturday 10 – 12 and 11 -1pm.  More information is available through email: cykelkursus_nor@rodekors.dk.

 

I, for one, am delighted to move to a city that will encourage me to keep up my new found enthusiasm for keeping fit and I can’t wait to try out a bike that brings me somewhere, rather than the stationary one I’ve used in spinning class!