The BikeMike Copenhagen Evening Zen Tour: “One stop only as we let the passing cityscape and natural environment do the talking. Hard to believe it’s a city bike tour. We bike through rural areas without ever leaving the city of Copenhagen. Come and join this wonderful ride through beautiful mood pictures of Copenhagen when she is stressing down from another busy day and try to do the same yourself. The tour experience embraces the philosophy: “When we bike, the city does all the talking, when we stop, we do the talking”. Treat yourself to the luxury of two hours of total calm. You’ll hear more birds singing than cars racing by… Please understand and respect that no talking at all is accepted during the bike tour. Silence is a big part of the experience.”
Two of us met up, Mike introduced himself, then he set off in some direction and I just tried to keep up. No speaking for a few hours, almost no eye contact (occasionally he looked back to make sure I was still there)– just ride and listen and look.
After maybe half an hour in my brain was free-associating from each little thing I focused on, and my perception felt sharpened– I took in moments and scenes in great detail and they stuck with me. We’d ride through the woods surrounded by vocal pre-sunset birds and the white noise of wind ruffling branches… then for 30 seconds ride past a group of raucous youngsters partying along the side of the road or the bellow of a horse in a paddock, which would then quickly fade back away.
Moments I can still visualize in detailed clarity even a few weeks later:
- A particular older couple on their second-floor balcony eating dinner at sunset with glasses of wine, each reading a magazine
- A brief locking of eyes and shared smile with a woman with deep-red-dyed hair and an apron taking a solo smoke break by a tiny door in an alley
- Three intoxicated friends, one carrying a tiny dog, stumbling down steps in front of us and freezing and staring, wide-eyed
- Deserted parking lots along the water, the thumping beat of music ahead… whipping past a club and about 100 people milling about… and then just like that, back to the ambient city sounds
- Breaking out of a grove of bushes and onto an open bridge high above train tracks, looking down into the city
- Turning suddenly from roads onto brick-arched arcades between buildings, up metal ramps, through courtyards, and down and out into the next street over
If you’re ever in Copenhagen and are comfortable riding without any control or complaint, I highly recommend it. I’m not going to spoil the route, but here are a handful of blind snapshots I took with a camera in my basket and looked at later.
