A confession: I hate bikes. I hate bikes when I’m walking, I hate bikes when I’m driving, and I hate bikes most of all when I’m biking.
I grew up in New York City, where the fervent eco-fitness fanatics who commute by bike ride a twice-daily gauntlet of murderous motorists and plugged-in pedestrians, where a bike lane – if by some miracle you can find one – offers about as much protection as a leaky condom.
I have no desire to end up imprinted onto the tires of a Mack truck. If I want to get myself killed, I’ll join the Navy. At least there’s more glory in catching a bullet than catching the bumper of some near-blind lunatic’s family van.
Thus, it was with a bit of reluctance that I mounted a bicycle and set off, behind Kelton and Luke, to see Copenhagen as it’s meant to be seen.
The night before, we’d been talking about the importance of empathy in accessible design, and had come to the subject of wheelchair trials. “The problem is,” Kelton said, “the way you use a wheelchair for a few hours is entirely different from the way you use it after two months.”
After two months, the wheelchair is no longer a tool you use – it’s part of your identity – an extension of the self.
We see the same principle played out across the streets of Copenhagen, where Danes ride their bikes with the aptitude, precision, and grace of athletes in their element.
After the 1973 OPEC embargo, our petrol-thirsty nation (along with most others) scurried back to its oil suppliers like a boy who’s realized that if he runs away, no one will make him sandwiches. Denmark said “Fuck that,” and instituted a series of reforms to make Copenhagen a bikers’ city. There are bike lanes on every street, more than half the population owns bikes, and even in the middle of January, more Danes bike than drive.
Biking through Copenhagen, I was panting, sweat-drenched, and miles behind my friends, but I wasn’t in mortal terror. And biking to Höst for some birch bark ice cream and to La Fontaine for jazz and shots of Gammel Dansk, I actually began to enjoy it.
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