“Triathlon” in Copenhagen | The Press

(Copenhagen) No need to be called Jonas Vingegaard or Hugo Houle to pedal in Copenhagen. Or owning a $15,000 bike. A little goodwill and 150 Danish kroner (about $26) is enough to ride for a day around the capital of Denmark.

Simon Drouin
The Press

Here, getting around on two wheels is the norm. Worker in a suit, mother on a cargo bike, teenager in a summer dress and earphones, son in tandem with dad, businesswoman in a suit, young couple in lycra on carbon frames: everyone is crosses on the innumerable cycle paths of the kingdom.

Tourists are also welcome. Forget the chaos of Quebec trails. Here, everything is ordered, every rule and every traffic light is rigorously respected.

Great advantage: cycle lanes are most often separated from vehicles and pedestrian corridors by a raised curb. Everything becomes fluid after a short period of adaptation. A little dusting of the bike signals is however recommended. The most important: left arm at 90 degrees upwards to announce a slowdown or a stop. This will save you a few sighs and knocks from the locals.

Most hotels offer 24-hour rental bikes. A few companies also offer a rental service, sometimes with electrically assisted bicycles and an integrated electronic tablet to find your way around the city.

Two-wheel tour

Personally, I inherited a gleaming three-speed basket bike bearing the name of the hotel. The mount was perfect for getting to the press room of the Grand Départ of the Tour de France, located 6 km south of the city center.

The raised handlebar was ideal for admiring the distinctive architecture of Danish buildings. Like these two residential towers in the shape of stars or these many curved buildings. It gives the impression of crossing Habitat 67s at every street corner.

In this context, I am not surprised to find myself by chance on a bridge that weaves between two glazed buildings, at the height of the first floor, to span the canal du port du sud.

The superb work is called the Cykelslangen — literally the “cycling serpent”. Inaugurated in 2014, it is Copenhagen’s first bicycle-only bridge, built at a cost of C$5.6 million. Its curves and gentle drop take us from one bank to the other as if by magic. Its orange surface, 235 m long, sets it apart from other cycle paths in the capital. Its width of nearly 5 m allows safe overtaking for each of the two two-way lanes.

In the middle of the Cykelslangen, I see a beautiful large swimming pool submerged in the canal, immediately regretting not having slipped my swimming goggles into my suitcase. The Sluseholmen Havnebad is a three-pool free bath. The first is a paddling pool with a closed bottom, with a depth of 0.3-0.9 m. The second is for diving with 1m and 3m springboards. The third is a swimming pool proper with two corridors delimited by cables and a swimming area.

On this sunny afternoon at the end of June, several families are taking advantage of supervised refreshment. They are even more numerous at the edge of the canal to take a dip from the top of a wooden sidewalk. The less adventurous slip into the water using the steel ladders placed on both sides of the body of water.

The next day, I go back jogging with a colleague. The inclement sky scared away the majority of swimmers. Towels around the waist, Lauren Pedersen and Marco Schletz are however faithful to the post. Daily swimming is an almost sacred activity for the Edmonton native and the young man from Germany.

Even in winter, Lauren Pedersen immerses herself in icy water – which sometimes has to be drilled with a saw! — every Monday morning. Portable saunas, rented or owned by communities of which you must be a member, are installed in the park on the edge of the water.

Amused by my interest, the dancer and composer, whose father is from Copenhagen, offers me to test the waters myself. After a few seconds hesitation, I dive! First surprise, the water is salty, which makes sense since it comes from the nearby Baltic Sea. It’s pretty good, so I let myself float for a few minutes, watching the yellow shuttle as it cruises from one bank to the other.

Harbor Circle

Speaking of yellow, I have to set off again quickly to follow the first stage of the Tour de France and find out the identity of the first wearer of the famous leader’s jersey (Yves Lampaert).

So I won’t have time to do the Harbor Circle, a 2, 4, 7 or 13 km cycle or walk circuit. It crosses several new districts of the Danish capital and allows, among other things, to contemplate the Royal Library, nicknamed the Black Diamond, to immerse yourself in the Amager Fælled nature reserve and to stop in a trendy café.

I will come back, not without going through the Danish cycling embassy, ​​the only one of its kind in the world. No wonder in this bike-mad country, which now celebrates its Tour de France champion in Jonas Vingegaard.