A recent post on Copenhagenize discusses how that city prioritizes cycle-ways in its snow cleanup efforts, and briefly touches on why. Citizen cyclists, as Mikael calls them, are so large a factor that not clearing the cycle infrastructure first would mean that tens of thousands of folks would suddenly descend on the public transit system or get in cars, causing a much larger traffic problem for all involved.

Would that we had such a situation in Louisville Kentucky.

Mikael also observes that few folks in Copenhagen use snow-specific tires--in part because the cycle ways are cleared so well and so often.

I thought about that a moment, given my recent post pondering whether to buy a snow-specific bike (which would have studded snow tires). I observed in his comments section that much of Copenhagen is relatively urban--even in residential areas. My own commute is mostly suburban in nature, with a fair bit of rural thrown in for good measure. Even the suburban areas have greater elevation changes than I ever seem to see in Mikael's photos of Copenhagen. I've not looked at a topographical map of that city, so I don't know how varied the terrain really is. He may have streets like those in Seattle that figured prominently in some youtube videos recently seen--cars and trucks sliding down a hill on icy pavement and stacking into one another with noises that only a body-shop owner could love.


I don't have anything quite so daunting in my commute--the steepest climbs in my normal route are on Houston Lane and Rollington Road between Pewee Valley and Westport Road by Forest Springs North subdivision, and traffic through there is usually pretty light. I expect that if the road was impassable, I could use grass berms and ditches on either side, if I get a snow-day bike as I'm considering doing.

One thing that has occurred to me is that the snow-day bike I'm pondering could eventually replace my old Raleigh three-speed. I don't know whether this would happen, only that it's a possibility. I've surprised myself by how fond I am of that old bike, after all the years I spoke disparagingly about "wedgie bikes." Of course, some tempering of my attitudes came as part of working in the bike business, so I'm not as vocal about recumbent bikes being superior as I once was. I've had to recognize that the "different horses for different courses" analogy fits well when it comes to bicycles. I also have found that the correct number of bicycles in the garage is n+1, where n is the current number of bicycles in inventory and n+2 is the most the garage can hold. At the moment, however, I need to get some boxes out of my garage so that I can get to the n bikes we currently have.