Happy cycling!
Iowa City in the Snow, 1940. Via Shorpy
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
The guru of Cycle Chic, as you may know, is a guy named Mikael Colville-Andersen. He's the brains behind the smarmy hottie-on-bicycle-ogling blog Copenhagen Cycle Chic and its less-popular, less-leering cousin, Copenhagenize. This guy annoys me for any number of reasons. But today I want to talk about how he annoys me because he refuses to acknowledge that the whole world is not Copenhagen.
Today, Mikael Colville-Andersen has taken it upon himself to lecture us about the difference between bike commuting and bike culture. The basic difference is that bike commuters are bad, while bike culture is good. The substance of the difference is a little less clear to me. Bike commuting, which characterizes bike riders in North America, focuses on riding your bike to work. Bike commuters also advocate for showers that bike riders can use once they get to work, and they wear special clothes when it's cold. In bike cultures, people ride their bikes everywhere, not just to work. They ride their bikes to shops and restaurants and nightclubs. They also don't care about showers and don't wear special cycling gear in bad weather. Cycle culture is what we should all aim for, while cycle commuting makes bike riders a small, specialized, embattled subculture.
I will freely admit that I'm a bike commuter. I occasionally stop at a restaurant, bar, coffee place or shop after work, but fundamentally I ride my bike to my job. Further, in the summer I take a shower when I arrive at work. Finally, I wear special cold-weather cycle gear in the winter. I wear long underwear, high-tech hiking socks, ultra-warm boots, a warm sweater over my normal sweater, and two pairs of mittens that I bought at the hunting/ farm supply store. Truly, I am a bike commuter and hence represent everything that is wrong with American bike riders.
Mikael C-A would say that the difference between me and him is cultural. The reason that I only ride my bike to work, value showers in the summer, and wear long underwear is that I'm a victim of bad American culture, whereas he is blessed to be a beneficiary of awesome Danish culture. The only reason that Iowa City is different from Copenhagen is that people in Copenhagen are just kind of personally superior.
And the thing is, that's bullshit. When I left for work this morning, it was about about 5°F (-15°C). [Note: I started this post a couple of days ago. But this morning, it was even colder than that.] That, it turns out, is colder than *it has ever been in Copenhagen in the month of December.*. No really: today was just a random, slightly-cold day, and it was significantly colder than the record minimum for Copenhagen in December. In January, the average low in Copenhagen is -2°C, and the average low in Iowa City is -11°C. It's really considerably colder here than in Copenhagen. And that's why I wear long underwear in the winter: not because of culture, but because of climate. In the winter, I bike to work in the bitter cold, and long underwear and extra socks mean that biking in the bitter cold doesn't hurt.
Similarly, I value showers because it's really hot and humid here in the summer. In July, the average high here is 31°C (87°F). The average July high in Copenhagen is 22°C or 71°F. I don't need showers when it's 71°F, either. Again, the issue is climate, not culture.
And finally, there's the issue of commuting versus riding your bike to do all your daily business. For some reason, Mikael C-A seems to associate commuting with long distances and fast riding, which is weird. That's not the way it works for me. My job is located downtown, which is two miles from my home. The reason that I commute is that it's actually not a very long ride. There are some other places downtown to which I ride my bike. I stop fairly frequently at the yarn store, the bookstore, or the coffee and gelato hut. But like a lot of American cities and towns, my city does not have an entirely thriving downtown. There is no grocery store downtown. There's no place downtown to buy socks or underwear. Most of the businesses downtown are bars, restaurants, and luxury stores, and I don't actually do that much business in bars, restaurants or expensive boutiques. None of my friends live downtown. I do most of my shopping and socializing much farther away from my house, and it's a lot more convenient to drive than to ride a bike.
My city is engaged in a bit of a debate about how to revitalize downtown, which for a while now has been given over to bars that catered to underage drinkers. The city recently voted to ban underage people from bars, and a lot of those establishments are closing down. A lot of us really hope that new businesses will open up there and that they'll fill more diverse needs and serve a more diverse clientele. I hope that happens. It would go pretty far to transform me from a bike commuter to a participant in bike culture. But that's not something that I can accomplish on my own, overnight. Again, the problem is that Mikael C-A expects us all to behave like we live in Copenhagen, even when we demonstrably don't.
Mikael C-A has this weird notion that culture is an independent variable, which has nothing to do with the specifics of the place in which it's found. There are superior cultures, and all that inferior people need to do is improve their virtue and emulate their betters. He flatly refuses to believe that different bike cultures might make sense in different places, depending on factors like climate, terrain, or density. It's bizarre and frankly a little frustrating.
Update: Today Mikael C-A has informed us that we really don't need studded tires since nobody in Copenhagen uses them. This is illustrated with videos of people riding on absolutely flat streets. I'm wondering if he'd feel differently if he had to ride down the steep, not-well-plowed hill in front of my building every morning!
Today, Mikael Colville-Andersen has taken it upon himself to lecture us about the difference between bike commuting and bike culture. The basic difference is that bike commuters are bad, while bike culture is good. The substance of the difference is a little less clear to me. Bike commuting, which characterizes bike riders in North America, focuses on riding your bike to work. Bike commuters also advocate for showers that bike riders can use once they get to work, and they wear special clothes when it's cold. In bike cultures, people ride their bikes everywhere, not just to work. They ride their bikes to shops and restaurants and nightclubs. They also don't care about showers and don't wear special cycling gear in bad weather. Cycle culture is what we should all aim for, while cycle commuting makes bike riders a small, specialized, embattled subculture.
I will freely admit that I'm a bike commuter. I occasionally stop at a restaurant, bar, coffee place or shop after work, but fundamentally I ride my bike to my job. Further, in the summer I take a shower when I arrive at work. Finally, I wear special cold-weather cycle gear in the winter. I wear long underwear, high-tech hiking socks, ultra-warm boots, a warm sweater over my normal sweater, and two pairs of mittens that I bought at the hunting/ farm supply store. Truly, I am a bike commuter and hence represent everything that is wrong with American bike riders.
Mikael C-A would say that the difference between me and him is cultural. The reason that I only ride my bike to work, value showers in the summer, and wear long underwear is that I'm a victim of bad American culture, whereas he is blessed to be a beneficiary of awesome Danish culture. The only reason that Iowa City is different from Copenhagen is that people in Copenhagen are just kind of personally superior.
And the thing is, that's bullshit. When I left for work this morning, it was about about 5°F (-15°C). [Note: I started this post a couple of days ago. But this morning, it was even colder than that.] That, it turns out, is colder than *it has ever been in Copenhagen in the month of December.*. No really: today was just a random, slightly-cold day, and it was significantly colder than the record minimum for Copenhagen in December. In January, the average low in Copenhagen is -2°C, and the average low in Iowa City is -11°C. It's really considerably colder here than in Copenhagen. And that's why I wear long underwear in the winter: not because of culture, but because of climate. In the winter, I bike to work in the bitter cold, and long underwear and extra socks mean that biking in the bitter cold doesn't hurt.
Similarly, I value showers because it's really hot and humid here in the summer. In July, the average high here is 31°C (87°F). The average July high in Copenhagen is 22°C or 71°F. I don't need showers when it's 71°F, either. Again, the issue is climate, not culture.
And finally, there's the issue of commuting versus riding your bike to do all your daily business. For some reason, Mikael C-A seems to associate commuting with long distances and fast riding, which is weird. That's not the way it works for me. My job is located downtown, which is two miles from my home. The reason that I commute is that it's actually not a very long ride. There are some other places downtown to which I ride my bike. I stop fairly frequently at the yarn store, the bookstore, or the coffee and gelato hut. But like a lot of American cities and towns, my city does not have an entirely thriving downtown. There is no grocery store downtown. There's no place downtown to buy socks or underwear. Most of the businesses downtown are bars, restaurants, and luxury stores, and I don't actually do that much business in bars, restaurants or expensive boutiques. None of my friends live downtown. I do most of my shopping and socializing much farther away from my house, and it's a lot more convenient to drive than to ride a bike.
My city is engaged in a bit of a debate about how to revitalize downtown, which for a while now has been given over to bars that catered to underage drinkers. The city recently voted to ban underage people from bars, and a lot of those establishments are closing down. A lot of us really hope that new businesses will open up there and that they'll fill more diverse needs and serve a more diverse clientele. I hope that happens. It would go pretty far to transform me from a bike commuter to a participant in bike culture. But that's not something that I can accomplish on my own, overnight. Again, the problem is that Mikael C-A expects us all to behave like we live in Copenhagen, even when we demonstrably don't.
Mikael C-A has this weird notion that culture is an independent variable, which has nothing to do with the specifics of the place in which it's found. There are superior cultures, and all that inferior people need to do is improve their virtue and emulate their betters. He flatly refuses to believe that different bike cultures might make sense in different places, depending on factors like climate, terrain, or density. It's bizarre and frankly a little frustrating.
Update: Today Mikael C-A has informed us that we really don't need studded tires since nobody in Copenhagen uses them. This is illustrated with videos of people riding on absolutely flat streets. I'm wondering if he'd feel differently if he had to ride down the steep, not-well-plowed hill in front of my building every morning!
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