cycle chic

This summer I've been trying to use my bike more to get around town. However, biking and beauty seem to be at odds sometimes. So I've been doing a little reading on European biking, because they seem to do it so stylishly. I love how many of their cities are bike friendly and a good deal of people do their everyday commuting on bicycles. This blog has some great information and pictures of bikes in Copenhagen. Apparently, 36% of the population there uses bikes as the daily mode of tranportation. That's a lot of people considering it is a city of 1.7 million.

From their site: "Cycle Chic, a social documentary blog about a cycling life in this lovely city. It's bike advocacy in high heels with a streetstyle twist from the world's cycling capital."

Also, this flickr site has some awesome photos of bikers in Copenhagen.

After looking at all these stylish biking european women I decided that I couldn't possibly make it through the summer without a cute bike of my own. I love how European cyclists don't seem to share America's minimalist attitude toward bikes. They have fenders, chain gaurds, baskets etc. Enter my most recent purchase from Craigslist - a candy apple red vintage Schwinn.

'm loving my bike. It makes me feel like riding down a country lane (think Anne of Green Gables setting) with my hair flowing behind me. Too bad I don't live on Prince Edward Island or have long hair :) I just need a basket now so that I can go to the farmer's market or store and carry a couple of bags home.
As much as I love this bike I don't seem to get where I am going very quick. It is more of a leisurely ride, and it is really hard to pedal uphill. I end up panting by the time I reach the top of the Broadway bridge. As a result, I only use the bike in the north east quadrant of Portland. If I ever have a job that is downtown (cross my fingers) I'm hoping to get a bike that is a combination of nice riding and chic. This will make it so I could get to work quickly and easily and also look good while doing it. But I've decided not to purchase a new bike until I will actually use it to commute to work. Right now my job is too far out in the suburbs to bike commute. Alas, the new and improved bike will have to wait. Sigh..

On a side note, while researching women and biking, I found that biking for women in the late 1800's became a symbol and means for liberation. Susan B. Anthony said:

Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel...the picture of free, untrammelled womanhood.
- Susan B. Anthony, American Suffragist, 1896


photo via this flickr site

However, other opinions at the time were: "...certainly (so the "experts" said) it was not healthy for delicate, fragile womankind to trust herself to a mechanical device." via this website

Kudos to all those women who fought for equal rights! I am so happy that I live in day where I can ride a bike anywhere wearing anything I choose.

photo from this flickr site