Last minute wish list...just a couple of extra ideas!

OK, thank god you're all like us and wait till the last minute, otherwise our tips to you for what we'd love to see under our tree would be so wasted! Here are a couple of additional ideas for all you procrastinators, once again from our friends at Remodelista.

After all, we plan to cycle right through the winter this year! Thank you soooo much!

We're Ready to be Copenhagenized!

We are loving this little clip from Copenhagenize! It's a great example of that "delight of discovery" that can occur when you're moving through a place using your own energy. And it's a great example of how small thoughtful additions to the public realm can make everyone's life a little happier.

Copenhagenizing Copenhagen from Copenhagenize on Vimeo.

Copenhagenize is a consulting company founded by ex-pat Canadian Mikael Collville- Andersen (who also runs the popular & trend-setting Copenhagen Cycle Chic blog). The city of Copenhagen has been so sucessful in implementing integrated urban infrastructure, with a massive emphasis on bicycle use (as opposed to "cycling" which is a segregative term), that its citizens are able to provide consulting services to the rest of the world on how to "Copenhagenize" their own cities! Amazing!

Coveting- Danish Delight

We have plans to travel to Copenhagen later this year, and as a result we have our eyes open these days for anything and everything Danish. A recent posting at The Toronto Standard got our pulses racing- it featured both great design, which the Danes are well known for, and bicycles, for which they are equally well known. 

So, we are coveting one of these bicycle baskets. Trouble is, we can't make up our minds which one! 

The first is called the Bike Crate. It comes from a company called MAIK. They are in Copenhagen. We will be in Copenhagen. Their website has a map. We will go there. It's a beauty:

The second is called The Bike Porter from Copenhagen Parts. They too are based in Copenhagen and the Bike Porter seems to be available at about a dozen shops in that city. Talk about convenient. And we appreciate the flat packaging (those Scandinavians & their flat packaging!) which would make transport back to Canada pretty darn simple. And, it comes in several alluring colours!

Such a dilemma! We will have to inspect each closely and give due consideration to their individual merits. Or, we may just have to get one of each!

Oh, the Weather Outside is Frightful, but a Bike Ride's so Delightful...

With the snowflakes dancing fiendishly in the air this morning, we doubt very much that we'd have the courage to hop onto two wheels to tool around town doing our Saturday chores, but it IS encouraging to know that there are those for whom this is just "business as usual". You'll see what we mean at about the one minute mark in the vid below- that's when things get serious!

Frankly, this has given us just the inspiration we needed to resist the strong urge to dig the damn bike out from under it's snowy blanket and stash it away in the storage locker for 2 more months. Maybe if we just hang tight till next week...

Enjoy, and don't forget to enlarge to full screen turn up the volume!

Copenhagen January Cycling - Your Country from Copenhagenize on Vimeo.

All images thanks to the unstoppable Copenhagenize.com

New Feed Bag Link for the love of urban cycling

While the purpose of this blog is not one of advocacy, urban cycling does inspire us, so we are happy to include in our Feed Bag (see right) a new link to Copenhagenize, a site dedicated to promoting that cause. It is the sister site of fellow Feed Bag member Copenhagen Cycle Chic,

(pic below) already a favourite of ours.
We love the current focus at both these sites on winter cycling. Copenhagenize, in particular, has some great photos, clips & descriptions of the impressive efforts the city puts into clearing snow from bike paths. Keeping the bikes moving is priority #1.

At a time when a certain candidate in Toronto's upcoming mayoral election is seeking to use bike lanes as a wedge to be driven between city & suburban voters, and when the usual excuse from all sides as to insufficient funding of our bike routes is that "Toronto is a winter city", it is inspiring to see that at least one major metropolis with a wintery climate refuses to let weather weaken its imagination.

http://www.copenhagencyclechic.com/

We continue to love this site.
Seems they have embraced the fact that they live in a cold climate and are not constantly belly aching about it,all the while looking pretty fab, on their chosen mode of transpo.. their bikes.
Somehow society as we know it has not ceased to function.
Check it out in FEED BAG...(just to the right)