Confessions of a Copenhagen Bike Commuter

Pet Peeves #2

I have a lot of pet peeves in traffic - as do most people apparently, seeing all the road rage out there.

I will in a series of post try to categorize and exemplify them based on recurring things on my current commute. 

#2) 

This one is very specific. At nansensgade there is a “yeildline”/hajtænder for alle bikes. Just about 50% stops as they must when there is cars and other traffic comming by. The rest just continues, leaving the “law abiding” bicyclists waiting for way longer because the cars we are waiting for has to hazardously break for the crossing bikes. Anti-social behavior!!!

Pet Peeves

I have a lot of pet peeves in traffic - as do most people apparently, seeing all the road rage out there.

I will in a series of post try to categorize and exemplify them based on recurring things on my current commute.

#1)

This is a peeve of mine everywhere: why old ladies, young girls and other slow moving bicyclist need to overtake everybody waiting at a red light, cross the white line and place them self ahead of everybody? I categorize this as anti-social behavior.

Worst part is when this happens in a series of consecutive red lights and we all overtake this fellow commuter again and again until the next red light

grrrr

Fall is here

Now I had three commuter trips in a row with rain…

Tough not quite this bad yet ;)

I guess it was bound to happen…

… biking every day 32km’s kind of sets the odds for accidents quite high.

A monday morning in april an unexperienced driver distracted by GPS swerved right - - which I mistook for the car turning right - and I started to overtake. The car decided not to turn right and swerved left right out in front of me. But then another car was up ahead and the car now immediately in front of me emergency breaked resulting in me having to emergency brake and eventually rear-ending the car sending me flying over the handlebars and onto the road and leaving the cars with some nasty scratches.

Today I filled out my part of the story for the insurance company. I never even reported it - I was pretty sure that bruises and minor scracthes on my bike isn’t covered by my insurance.

Catching another wheel

At blegdams vej a fast guy overtook me but I was able to bridge up to him and barely stay on his wheel. As we were approching Lyngby motorvejen he even started using the riding-in-a-pick sign-language for obstacles. But damn he was pushing it hard on the hills. I fought and fought and luckily the traffic lights were red every now and then. As we approached Lyngby he decided to let the pace go just enough that I didn’t have to hang on for dear life and I of course took the opportunity to ride next to him and ask if I should take the lead for a while :D

He of course declined but seemed to appreciate the sentiment ;)

The big difference

So this morning I caught up to a couple of guys looking just about as silly as me on expensive bikes. Soon yet another guy caught up with me, so we were four hiding behind each other to get less of the head wind. In Gentofte at Ikea some road work was in action and I got caught on the one side on the bike lane and the other three took the normal road around the road work.

I fell behind trying to jump over gravel and wires and tubes splayed across the bike path and I could see the three guys racing on. But then suddenly the last guy of the three slowed down a bit and fell behind and started looking back. When I caught up to him he set the pace again and we “gathered the group” once more. He then continued to use the “official” roadbike signs to warn about conditions up ahead which can be hard to see when you are riding in a pack!

At a red light I asked him if he really did fall behind to take me back to the group and he acknowleded. A really nice gesture which really can make my day - instead of the usual “GET-OFF-MY-WHEEL-ILL-DRIVE-AS-FAST-AS-I-CAN-TO-LOOSE-YOU”

Great bike day

9 days ago…

the temprature was above 0, I was all packed and ready to go in all my silly clothes - and then there is no traction from the casette to the wheel. Freehub in both directions. Also known as no good. So I took the bike and left it at the bike-repair shop (where I bought it) at Amager.  It turns out that the body of the hub had been destroyed by my awesome power and perhaps more likely: salt.

And I’m still waiting for the spare part to arrive at the bike-repair so I can get the bike back. I can feel the fat climbing on to my body as we speak and my fitness decaying by the loads. And to add “insult to injury” the weather has been awesome since. 10+ centigrade and sun :(