28 July 2008

What Things Look Like in The Summer in Copenhagen

It's summer. It's beach weather. It's sticky hot all day and all night. In Copenhagen we're spoiled for beaches and, like anywhere else, we flock to them whenever we can.
Stop, Check Text, Ride
What checking a text message at a red light heading home from the beach looks like in The Copenhagen Summer.
Summer Stop Light
What a red light looks like in in The Copenhagen Summer.
Home from Beach
What waiting for the elevator at the Metro at the beach looks like in The Copenhagen Summer.
Homeward Bound
What heading home from the beach looks like in The Copenhagen Summer.
5000 parking spots for 15000 bikes
What parking at the beach looks like in The Copenhagen Summer. [At this beach there are 5000 bike rack spaces - and about 10,000 bikes]
Beachparking Overflow
What beach parking overflow looks like in The Copenhagen Summer.


Anonymous said...

It just blows my mind to think about a bike culture like this. 10,000 bicycles at the beach! I really need to visit Denmark and see this for myself.

Is Copenhage unique in Denmark or are most cities in Denmark like this?

How similar is the bike culture in Norway or Sweden? I lived in Norway about 30 something years ago. I got around on a bike but I don't remember anything like what you show here.

Colville-Andersen said...

You're more than welcome! We'll go for a bike ride.

Copenhagen is unique in that it is a large city - 1.9 million - but there are a couple of smaller cities that profile themselves as cycling cities. Odense and Aarhus. But they're small.

Sweden and Norway are not generally regarded as great cycling nations, but Sweden's third city Malmo, has about 25% bike usage rates - but then they're only 30 minutes by train from Copenhagen, so maybe it rubbed off... :-)

Norway isnt' bad. Trondheim in the north has about 8% bike usage despite mountains and snowy winters.

Copenhagen can really only be compared to Amsterdam, other cities in the Netherlands, various cities in Germany and Switzerland.

Anonymous said...

Agreed with cyclingred. Bicycle parking overflowing at the beach! I've never seen that before and it's a couple of amazing photos to look at. It's the complete opposite to the beaches I've seen in the states that are swarmed with angry car and SUV drivers trying to get closer and closer to the beach. Grrr.

my hyggelig said...

love, love, love this post! Summer, Denmark, the Beach, Bikes - what could be better?

Kristin Tieche said...

The abundant bicycle parking at the beach is really quite inspirational. My friend from Montreal was just complaining to me that there's never anywhere to park your bike in SF.

We're working on it though! The Bicycle Coalition often provides free and secure valet bike parking at special events and ballgames, which is quite handy! Never seen ANYTHING as phenomenal as what you've shown in these photos though.

Colville-Andersen said...

thanks, everyone! summer is, indeed, lovely.

and this is just one beach out of many. so imagine thousands of bikes at each beach.

Anonymous said...

That is a pretty orange bike in one picture ! What kind of bike is it ? I live in the US, near the beaches in New Jersey. I decided I would check out a way to get to the beach by bike by first riding the route to the bike trail in my car. All of the roads going to the bike trail have no bike lanes (a given) and no shoulder at all. How is it in the rest of Denmark outside of major cities ? Are there bike lanes on what we would call suburban arterials here ? (But I really want to know about the orange bike !).

Colville-Andersen said...

I can't see what kind of bike it is. Looks like a standard Danish bike. Probably one of these.

Denmark was the first country to set up a national bike path route back in the 1990's. We now have 11,000 km of bike routes. In the country there are usually separated bike lanes between larger towns.

All in all, drivers in Denmark are cyclists, too, so its fine to ride around the nation.

Anonymous said...

How it comes there are so many bicycle riders in Copenhagen? Some kind of tradition? Something special happened in history? I just wonder ....