This is the time of year when the most dedicated if us may be tempted by public transport or choosing four wheels over two. As you look out the window at the rain and see your breath condense in front of your face, it is easy to think that you have done your bit by cycling the other 9 months of the year.
At those times, I am often led to wonder what the Dutch and Danish do in their darkest months. Surely no cycling infrastructure, no matter how well designed and safe, could get those pampered Europeans out on their bikes. They must be trundling off to their equally fantastic public transport systems with their heated seats to get to work, surely?
After all, Aucklanders apparently find our gentle winters too tough. And we NZers are hardy pioneering stock, tough as nails, who think nothing of throwing a sheep on our shoulders and walking through the rain. Or so the ads at half time in the Rugby tell me. Either that or I desperately need to buy a forklift (my wife had never seen a forklift ad until she came to NZ).
Well this article at Copenhagenize tells me that maybe it is us Aucklanders who need to take a couple of spoonfuls of cement in the morning, to help us harden up. Some harrowing photos of brave Danish souls cycling through snow and ice, even on cargo bikes with little ones in the front.
As Fred Dagg rightly pointed out, we don’t know how lucky we are.
