![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Cycle what?
Aug. 23rd, 2010 08:01 pmSince ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
baronalejandro brought it up, and since the air quality this afternoon has been such that getting a couple miles in on the bike is probably worth skipping, let's devote a moment to the concept of "cycle chic." http://www.copenhagencyclechic.com/ is supposedly the site that coined the term.
Basically it's supposed to refer to people who ride their bikes in regular clothes, as opposed to riding their bikes in cycling clothes. "Chic," I guess, is a relative term, because none of the women's outfits made me think, "Hey, I'd like to wear that," and none of the men's pictured made me think, "Hey, I'd like to wear him." Just everyday folks, wearing what they'd wear anyway. On their bikes going wherever it is they have to go.
It would appear that in Copenhagen, nobody above the age of two wears helmets. And there's the woman sprouting ear buds. Maybe Denmark has a low rate of bicycle fatalities, but I don't ride in Denmark. I ride here. Among people who drive while Californian. I'll take the helmet hair if it means I get to keep my marbles more or less operational.
So I Googled "cycle chic san francisco" and I found Riding Pretty, where no one is old (except the some of the bicycles), or fat, or slow. Where wrapping the existing strap of a handbag you found in the back of your closet around your handlebars constitutes DIY. And where nobody wears a helmet unless it's got a fake fur tea cozy on it.
Then there's the Tweed Rides, which sounds like a bunch of people pretending to be British, and protesting spandex with Good English Wool!. (I'm looking at YOU,kass_rants .) No weirder than the SCA and actually makes sense for San Francisco. Sacramento, not so much.
(Which reminds me, I saw a sweet 3 speed ladies' bike locked in the rack at Alameda Towne Centre on Friday night, British racing green, original Sturmey Archer gear shifter, original Brooks leather saddle, Raleigh logo on the rear fender, probably around Mimi's age, if I had to guess....)
So I guess whatever I end up biking to class in tomorrow night is "cycle chic." Where's a papparazzo when I need one?
baronalejandro brought it up, and since the air quality this afternoon has been such that getting a couple miles in on the bike is probably worth skipping, let's devote a moment to the concept of "cycle chic." http://www.copenhagencyclechic.com/ is supposedly the site that coined the term. Basically it's supposed to refer to people who ride their bikes in regular clothes, as opposed to riding their bikes in cycling clothes. "Chic," I guess, is a relative term, because none of the women's outfits made me think, "Hey, I'd like to wear that," and none of the men's pictured made me think, "Hey, I'd like to wear him." Just everyday folks, wearing what they'd wear anyway. On their bikes going wherever it is they have to go.
It would appear that in Copenhagen, nobody above the age of two wears helmets. And there's the woman sprouting ear buds. Maybe Denmark has a low rate of bicycle fatalities, but I don't ride in Denmark. I ride here. Among people who drive while Californian. I'll take the helmet hair if it means I get to keep my marbles more or less operational.
So I Googled "cycle chic san francisco" and I found Riding Pretty, where no one is old (except the some of the bicycles), or fat, or slow. Where wrapping the existing strap of a handbag you found in the back of your closet around your handlebars constitutes DIY. And where nobody wears a helmet unless it's got a fake fur tea cozy on it.
Then there's the Tweed Rides, which sounds like a bunch of people pretending to be British, and protesting spandex with Good English Wool!. (I'm looking at YOU,
kass_rants .) No weirder than the SCA and actually makes sense for San Francisco. Sacramento, not so much. (Which reminds me, I saw a sweet 3 speed ladies' bike locked in the rack at Alameda Towne Centre on Friday night, British racing green, original Sturmey Archer gear shifter, original Brooks leather saddle, Raleigh logo on the rear fender, probably around Mimi's age, if I had to guess....)
So I guess whatever I end up biking to class in tomorrow night is "cycle chic." Where's a papparazzo when I need one?
