Europe, from a Friend of Mine

My friends Jeanne and Peter Anderson traveled to Europe earlier this fall, where they had some fun on bicycles. For this edition of BIKING WITHOUT BORDERS, I'm going to run a piece Jeanne sent to me shortly after their return. A self-described "thinker, writer, reader; volunteer, catalyst, leader," Jeanne was an "Up with People" person from 1974 through 1976, and owner of Dark Horse Books in Driggs, Idaho, from 1995 through 2009. She also writes Jeanne's Jewelry & Junk Blog and edits Teton Home & Living magazine.

Okay, I'll admit it. I hadn't ridden a bicycle in something like five years. But when my husband Peter and I encountered unseasonably warm weather in Berlin (Germany) in late September, we started thinking how much fun it would be to explore that city on two wheels.

Berlin is almost completely flat and an uber-bike-friendly urban environment. For the previous few days, we'd seen folks older than we are ? and seemingly even less sure of themselves than I was worried I might be ? happily bopping about on bikes. Navigating the traffic looked enticingly simple: almost every street has well-marked bike lanes. And those lanes even have their own traffic lights!

We sought out the conveniently located and highly recommended Fat Tire Bike Rentals. Rentals were basic three-speed cruisers and offered no fancy gear, unless you count a plastic squeaky-thing that substituted for a bell; mine looked like a bumblebee on steroids.

The friendly Fat Tire employees carefully adjusted the seats for us ? big, comfy ones, gentle on tourist posteriors. Armed only with a map, the desire to explore deeper into what was once East Berlin, and a vague notion of some other sights we wanted to see (or re-see), we headed off toward the tree-shaded paths of the Tiergarten.

Such fun! We zoomed out to the once-Bohemian, now gentrified Prenslaur Berg and stopped for lunch. After a long cruise along the River Spree and a short hotel break, we wound our way to Schloss Charlottenburg. Tired but happy, we capped our Berlin-by-bike experience with a late-afternoon beer at an outdoor cafe.

On a sunny but chilly morning a couple of weeks later, we decided to do the same thing in bike-busy Copenhagen, Denmark. This time we discovered the well-publicized rental spot at the Central Train Station was closed, but found bikes-for-hire at a nearby retail shop. After I'd circumnavigated the roundabout a dozen times getting used to the skinny seat and the old-fashioned back-pedal-style brakes, we took off for another glorious day, riding along wide paths past lakes full of swans and ducks, stopping at the King's Garden and to see the Little Mermaid.

In both cities, the rental process was easy and affordable. The bikes had built-in snap-type back-tire locks, something we'd not seen before. Our excursions took us well beyond where we'd been while walking. We felt extremely safe, despite the high numbers of other bikers on the paths. Helmet-wearing cyclists were rare, something very different from everyone biking around here in the Tetons.

Here's one thing I know: I won't wait another five years for my next cycling adventure!

Thanks, Jeanne, for sharing!

Photo of bikes parked alongside Copenhagen's Black Diamond library building by Jeanne Anderson.

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BIKING WITHOUT BORDERS is posted every Monday by Michael McCoy, Adventure Cycling?s media specialist, and highlights a little bit of this or a little bit of that ? just about anything, as long as it?s related to traveling by bicycle. Mac also compiles the organization's twice-monthly e-newsletter Bike Bits, which goes free-of-charge to more than 43,000 readers worldwide, and organizes the Bike Overnights program.

Source: http://blog.adventurecycling.org/2011/12/europe-from-friend-of-mine.html

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