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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Words: Hannah Booth

Big picture: Copenhagen bikes, by Mikael Colville-Andersen

Big Picture, bikes: Big Picture: woman cycling whilst holding an umbrella
It’s not easy being chic on a bike in this country – the weather, traffic and lack of decent cycle lanes all conspire against the style-conscious urban cyclist. Photograph: Mikael Colville-Andersen
Big Picture, bikes: Big Picture: girl cycling on a path
Just last week John Griffin, chairman of London’s biggest mini-cab firm, blamed “beginner” cyclists for getting themselves run over. Photograph: Mikael Colville-Andersen
Big Picture, bikes: Big Picture: A male cycling with another male in a cart
He even argued that pushbikers should pay road tax. Photograph: Mikael Colville-Andersen
Big Picture, bikes: Big Picture: two girls on a cycle lane
Cut to Copenhagen, where cycle lanes are wide and plenty. Photograph: Mikael Colville-Andersen
Big Picture, bikes: Big Picture: man with a plant on the back of his bike
And cycling is an altogether less combative affair. Photograph: Mikael Colville-Andersen
Big Picture, bikes: Big Picture: Woman wearing a yellow dress on a bike
Legs are bare, skirts are floaty and heads – unencumbered by anything so ghastly as a helmet – are free. Photograph: Mikael Colville-Andersen
Big Picture, bikes: Big Picture: Man with a trumpet on a bike
Cyclists transport brass instruments, pot plants and small children, safe in the knowledge that a double-decker bus isn’t going to swerve into their path Photograph: Mikael Colville-Andersen
Big Picture, bikes: Big Picture: girl looking styling wearing heels on a bike
Blogger Mikael Colville-Andersen has undertaken exhaustive research into how Danish young women, in particular, stay so stylish on two wheels. Photograph: Mikael Colville-Andersen
Big Picture, bikes: Big Picture: girl on a bike with her dress blowing in the wind
If you’re cycling in a skirt and worry a gust of wind will flash your knickers, he counsels casually placing a hand in your lap. Photograph: Mikael Colville-Andersen
Big Picture, bikes: Big Picture: girl on a bike
Copenhagen, one of the most bike-friendly cities in the world, is committed to increasing its number of cyclists. Photograph: Mikael Colville-Andersen
Big Picture, bikes: Big Picture: girl wearing heels on a bike
It wants half the population to cycle to work or school by 2015, up 14% on today’s figure. Photograph: Mikael Colville-Andersen
Big Picture, bikes: Big picture: Woman walking a bike across a blue crossing also wearing blue
The city has even pioneered “green wave” cycle routes. Photograph: Mikael Colville-Andersen
Big Picture, bikes: Big Picture: woman on a red bike
If you keep at 20kmh within a band of green lights in the cycle lane, you will hit green traffic signals all the way. Photograph: Mikael Colville-Andersen
Big Picture, bikes: Big Picture:. woman wearing a headscarf on abike
But Denmark is facing one hard battle. Photograph: Mikael Colville-Andersen
Big Picture, bikes: Big Picture: man cycling wearing a flat cap
It is campaigning its citizens to wear helmets. Photograph: Mikael Colville-Andersen
Big Picture, bikes: Big Picture: Couple kissing on bikes
What it fails to grasp is that people who cycle in Copenhagen aren’t cyclists. Photograph: Mikael Colville-Andersen
Big Picture, bikes: Big Picture: stylish girl on a bike
They are elegant people getting from A to B on a bike. Photograph: Mikael Colville-Andersen
Big Picture, bikes: Big Picture: fashionable girl on a bike
And flat hair is a no-no. Photograph: Mikael Colville-Andersen
Big Picture, bikes: Big Picture: close of woman weather a red clog on a pedal
Copenhagen Cycle Chic is published by Thames & Hudson at £14.95 Photograph: Mikael Colville-Andersen
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