The Life-Sized City Blog

Photo: Mads Odgaard Norway's Statoil is a major oil company in Scandinavia and they have many petrol stations in Denmark. My friend Mads took these photos of a Statoil station in Copenhagen that has clearly accepted - dare one say embraced - the bicycle culture here in the City of Cyclists. In no uncertain terms Statoil has reserved space for cyclists to fix, tune-up or pump their bicycles at this Bicycle Care station. The sign, above, reads: "Dear Cyclist, You can care for your bicycle here. You can pump and wash your bicycle and, inside the shop, you're welcome to borrow a free bicycle care kit with oil, tire levers, allen keys, etc.  Enjoy. Statoil" I simply don't know how to make that text any nicer. Photo: Mads Odgaard In the centre of the bicycle pictogram is a rack that folds down so you can hang your bicycle on it while repairing, caring, whatever. An air hose is on the right and, on the left, a dispenser with paper towels and plastic ...

Cartoon from 1892. "The Holy Antonius' Last and Greatest Temptation". The Cycling Girl. Reading a brilliant book from 1947 about the dawn of bicycle culture in Copenhagen and Denmark. Chock full of goodies. Here is an incomplete list of some of the many bicycle clubs active in Copenhagen in and around 1890-1897. There were scores more than these. Loving some of the names. Trækfuglene (Migratory Birds) Dansk Bicycle Club Københavns Cycle Club (Copenhagen's Cycle Club) Østerbros Cycle Club (Østerbro is a neighbourhood) Seniorklubben Ordinary Cycle Clubben Frederiksberg Cycle Club Aftenfrokostforeningen (Evening Lunch Association) The Old Boys Record Klubben Nordiske Afholdsforeningers Bicycle Club (Nordic Temperance Associations Bicycle Club) Københavns Kvadrille Klub (Copenhagen's Quadrille Club) Kvindecycleklubben (The Women's Cycle Club) Who changed their name to: Damecycleklubben (The Ladies Cycle Club) Selskabelig-Cyclist Forening (Socia...

Here in Denmark, the summer's silly season is replaced by scary season. As the air gradually cools and the leaves fade to yellow, the people who produce "safety" campaigns start firing up their stoves to cook up a new batch of car-centric fear gulasch. The new kid on the block is the Vejdirektoratet - Danish Road Directorate with their VejKryds.dk campaign that hopes to raise awareness about right-turn collisions. We blogged about this campaign back in May when one of our readers - by chance - was invited to a feedback session hosted by Megafon.dk aimed at testing the campaign on a panel of citizens. You can read about the preview here: Fear Campaign Sneak Preview . The campaign is now on the streets. Compared to the original proposal it is clear that the Road Directorate listened - slightly - to the feedback panel and toned down the campaign a bit. It's still corny as hell with a "rhyme" theme. The main tagline is "Du tror du bli'r set, me...

Thanks to our reader, Philip, for this great story. The fans of Eintracht Frankfurt football club decided to ride their bicycles to this year's derby match against local rivals FSV Frankfurt on August 21, 2011. The result was a fantastic and festive "football critical mass" from the city centre to the stadium. It was probably even more festive afterwards, since Eintracht Frankfurt cycled home with a solid 0-4 victory over their rivals. Back when the word 'hooligans' was splashed over the press in the 1990s, the Danish fans started calling themselves 'roligans' - from the Danish word 'rolig', meaning 'calm'. The fans in the above photos could easily be dubbed 'Roll-igans' or even 'rad-igans'. Mainly because 'Pedaligans' just sounds stupid. More photos over at Ultras Frankfurt 1997 website . Here's a film from a couple of years ago of Felix and I riding home from an FC Copenhagen match.

Here's what the parking situtation looked like outside my daughter's daycare today. It was the annual summer party. Normally parents pick up their offspring over a few hours each afternoon so it's cool to see the bicycles all gathered there at once. All manner of bicycles. You name it. Crappy old vintage short johns, fancy cargo bikes, bike seats, you name it. Oh, and I probably missed about 50 bikes or so when shooting this. There are about 200 children between 8 months and 6 years in this combined daycare/kindergarten.