The Draisine is Back!

I've seen all manner of retro stuff - retrocity, to coin a word (rhymes with velocity/atrocity)- in this booming bicycle age but how wonderful to see a new Draisine! No, no... they're not pedals, they're footrests. Carl von would be so proud.

As seen in Barcelona.

And thank Odin for the spotting, 'cause I've been wondering for ages how I'd work this next bit into a blogpost.

Photo from the IVCA website.

From June 2-6, 2010 Denmark will be hosting the 30th IVCA rally on the island of Møn! (International Veteran Cycle Association... duh)

From the website:
The Danish Vintage Bicycle Club will present an engaging programme, in which you will be able to partake of Danish cuisine. [EDITOR'S NOTE - Nobody has ever come to Denmark for the cuisine.]

You will also get a taste of the island’s past in its famous cliffs, whose interesting geological formations are mingled with the remains of prehistoric wildlife. [EDITOR'S NOTE: You'll be wanting to taste the cliffs after partaking of Danish 'cuisine']

Other highlights include:
The rally will centre at the village hall of Hjertebjerg. You can look forward to taking part in a Century ride with shorter alternative routes, a picnic ride to the cliffs of Møn, a show-and-tell event at the local school, an excursion event with sightseeing divided into groups, a costume ride to the market town of Stege followed by a gala evening, in addition to traditional events such as the AGM and the flea market. There will be a flea market for those not attending the AGM. There will also be an extra surprise for all participants; disclosed at the evening "hygge-hour".

The Nordic medieval town of Stege, dating back to the thirteenth century, has bags of atmosphere in its narrow streets, not to mention the tempting regional specialities of beer, candy, pottery, art, etc.

The dinners will be served by a local Chef who is very well-known for the traditional Danish Cuisine and has been praised several times by media as well as by the customers. The same Chef will also serve the three included lunch meals. The Danish Cuisine is known for pork, calf, ox, fish and vegetables.

After registration the opening ceremony will take place and there will be a briefing for the great event of the evening – the World Championship.

The Championship will be held in three different classes:
- Hobby Horses. Replicas are eligible for participating.
- Ordinaries before 1900.
- Ordinaries after 1900.

Online registration.

Bike Helmet Protest in Melbourne

I had a brilliant week in Melbourne as a guest of the State of Design Festival . Loads of interviews and events that all culminated with my keynote speech on the Saturday. There was, however, an event on the Saturday morning - July 26, 2010 - that was extremely interesting to be a part of. A group of citizens, rallied together by filmmaker and bicycle advocate Mike Rubbo , decided to go for a bicycle ride together on Melbourne's new bike share system bikes. A splendid idea. Melbourne's bike share system is shiny new, although unlike most cities in the world with a bike share programme, only 70-odd people are using them each day. In Dublin, by contrast, there are over 30,000 subscribers. Not to mention the cracking successes in Paris, Barcelona, Seville and most of the over 100 cities with such systems. So, a group of people, many of them Copenhagenize.com readers, fancy a bike ride. Sounds lovely enough. They met up at the bike racks at Melbourne University. Hired the bikes wi

Head Protection for Motorists

A while back we posted about an Australian 'motoring helmet' designed to protect motorists' heads in car accidents. It was designed in the late 1980's. Then we recieved this tip yesterday. Another head protection device for motorists, this one developed at the University of Adelaide, in Australia. A serious product for the serious of protecting motorists from the dangers of driving. Despite airbags and seatbelts, motorists are victims of alarming head injury rates. Here's what the Centre for Automotive Safety Research [CASR] in Australia says: The Centre has been evaluating the concept of a protective headband for car occupants. In about 44 percent of cases of occupant head injury, a protective headband, such as the one illustrated, would have provided some benefit. One estimate has put the potential benefit of such a device (in terms of reduced societal Harm) as high as $380 million, compared with $123 million for padding the upper interior of the car. Thi

Fear of Cycling 03 - Helmet Promotion Campaigns

Third installment by sociologist Dave Horton, from Lancaster University, as a guest writer. Dave has written a brilliant assessment of Fear of Cycling in an essay and we're well pleased that he fancies the idea of a collaboration. We'll be presenting Dave's essay in five parts. Fear of Cycling - Helmet Promotion Campaigns - by Dave Horton - Part 03 of 05 Like road safety education, campaigns to promote the wearing of cycle helmets effectively construct cycling as a dangerous practice about which to be fearful. Such campaigns, and calls for legislation to make cycle helmets compulsory, have increased over the last decade. In 2004, a Private Members’ Bill was tabled in the UK Parliament, to make it an offence for adults to allow children under the age of 16 to cycle unless wearing a helmet. Also in 2004, the influential British Medical Association, in a policy turnaround , voted to campaign for helmets to be made compulsory for all cyclists (for comprehensive detail on these

The Life-Sized City Blog

Search This Blog