Cycling in Copenhagen

We're in Copenhagen for the Velomobile Seminar (posts to follow), but also spending a few days biking around the city. Here's where we rode on Sunday, October 18:

Bike route 338766 - powered by Bikemap

The tour took us from our hotel, the Quality Airport Hotel Dan across the island of Amanger, where the Copenhagen Airport is located, to the Vestvolden bike path, then down through the city center and back to the hotel, a 30-mile loop.

We had rented a Winther trike, which weighs almost 100 pounds but carries just about anything you might want to transport. It's meant for carrying two children; we easily brought along a picnic lunch, camera gear, rain clothing, and some tools. The trike came from Copenhagen Bike-Rental, which supports bike-building and repair projects in Africa. We had a small-wheeled folding bike with us, but for this ride on mixed surfaces, we rented a conventional three-speed bike from the hotel.

The Vestvolden bike route follows an old line of fortifications from the 1800's. When advances in warfare made them useless, the system was abandoned, and it has been turned into a park. Much of the bike route is asphalt, but there are unpaved sections, and one bridge is accessible only for 2-wheelers. The small photo shows the trike and bike in front of one of the old forts.

Fastest guy on the planet!!

Sam Whittingham has bicycled at 82.33 miles per hour under his own power and broken the (one-tenth) sound barrier, winning the DeciMach prize. This prize, which has come tantalizingly close to being claimed several times over recent years, celebrates the first human to bike at over one-tenth the speed of sound.

Choosing a route

We're planning a bike trip to the Recumbent Rally at the Hostel Shoppe in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Our previous long-distance bike trips have been in Europe, using the splendid bike routes and maps of the Netherlands, Austria, and Germany. One reason for not doing multi-day trips near home has been the difficulty of identifying suitable roads and getting information about them.

We're experimenting with a route-mapping system developed in Germany by Bikemap.net and building on Google Maps. (Click the header for a link to the site.) It provides detailed topographic information and allows for GPS device imports and exports. Riders can share their route information on the site or draw proposed routes and look at the distances and elevations to see whether the ride will be practical. Here's a route that we are considering (we'll report back on whether it works out):

Bike route 61416 - powered by Bikemap 

We can see already that there are some big climbs and drops; we will try drawing up some other routes and see if anything looks gentler.