First of all is the famous Pope Mikael himself. I even kissed his... ring!
He's the guy who runs the famous Copenhagenize "Bike culture in high heels" guy. He spoke to a standing room crowd of bike nerds like myself. Most of what he had to say in his one hour talk is posted to his blog, but it's always good to hear it from the horse's mouth. I'll post more about some of his points later.
Mikael wanted somebody to give Portland cyclists a hard time, so I'll volunteer. He was in Portland last night to give a similar talk, but nobody biked to the meeting because it was raining there! Mikael went on to explain that the 55% of Copenhageners who regular bike don't let a little rain or snow stop them -- 80% of them continue biking through the entire winter. In the USA we'd call that "hard core," but in Copenhagen it's just how they get around.
It was fun meeting my online friend Adrienne, who's as fun and flirty in real life as she is on her blog.
After literally years and years of online correspondence that began in the days of USENET (wreck.bikes, anyone?), it was great to finally meet the dashing Jym Dyer in person, who looks surprisingly respectable in spite of his rabble rousing reputation.
It was wonderful also to meet the lovely Lilia Pilia. She used to contribute to Velo Vogue but now she has her own cycling blog.
A shout out also to Dietrich and Carol of the Pensinsula Bike / Ped Committee, & Andy Thornley of SFBC.
9 comments:
Hey fritz,
mikael must have not seen the bike racks outside the venue last night... They were absolutely overflowing! Did he happen to mention that he rode over to the event with our Mayor, myself, and about 8 other people?
We don't have 80% retention of bike traffic in winter like they do in CPH, but just for the record, plenty of people rode to hi talk in Portland last night.
Cheers
- Jonathan/ bikeportland
I didn't really convey it in my post, but Mikael was saying it mostly to get a laugh (admittedly at PDX's expense, but oh well!)
The people who attended are the hard core who will bike no matter what, but in San Francisco and elsewhere in the Bay Area when the rainy season starts in December the bike share drops off to almost nothing.
I enjoyed the talk and I'm glad I was able to make it.
I unfortunatelly was at work, but knew you are a fast blogger :) so awesome!!
Lilia stopped contributing for velovogue? didnt know that and I hang out with them all. oh well
nice set!! Im sure we'll mee tnext soon :D
@Meli Yeah Adrienne told me you had to work. Ah well, some other time. It seemed like Lilian gave me the impression that she wasn't active on Velo Vogue, but I could very well be wrong.
It was so neat to see all these people in the room that do so much to contribute to the general bike culture tenor of the Bay Area. The winds are starting to feel like they are blowing in our direction for once.
It was also super cool to finally get to see you in person! I wish you could have stayed for the festivities!
How fun to have all of you in the same room at once. Lately, I've been spending a lot of time wishing I could be in San Fran!
Don't wish. Just come!
@Dottie: You just had your own little bike blogger confab in Chicago not long ago! But sure we'd love to see you visit the Bay Area some time. Just be sure to hit up Santa Cruz as well. :-)
good to meet you, richard! i really wish we could have chatted after the lecture but i understood you had to shoot off.
cheers!
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