if you’ve ever been to copenhagen, you’d understand. on my first day there i stood on a street corner for about 5 minutes watching the hordes of people on bicycles – thinking there was some kind of biking rally going on (in the middle of winter). no, that’s just how you get around in copenhagen. and it’s AWESOME.

coming from a university town, there are a fair share of people who use bikes to get around – but mostly students. and even with that considered, most people walk rather than bike because the roads aren’t really that safe for casual cyclists (or even professional cyclists, let’s be honest).  this isn’t just because our roads are ill equipped (no dedicated bike lanes), but car users and cyclists themselves aren’t really that great at dealing with eachother (not adhering to proper road rules, not using road/hand signals, impatience etc etc)

wouldn’t it be great if  a town like stellenbosch or even cities like cape town could become more bike friendly? i sympathise with people who have to drive kilometres to get to work, but even that’s doable by bike. peeps in norway have been at it for decades. think about the positive effects it would have on traffic congestion, your health & not to mention your wallet. and, did you know that denmark is the happiest nation in the world, statistically? i bet it’s all that biking, blood pumping and so on.

anyway, i think we can do it. look at a city like portland, which has pretty recently become super bike friendly – bicycle use in portland has nearly tripled since 2001 due to improved facilities. so nothing is impossible, right?

the fact that they look cool while doing it doesn’t hurt either. all pics courtesy of copenhagen cycle chic