my hyggelig: my hyggelig and biking...

I am an ordinary girl

who has always viewed bicycles as a necessity of life.

Bicycles were never for me about

looking cool,

looking beautiful,

trying to fit in,

joining a movement.

My bicycles have simply
always been

My Freedom

My Happiness.

As I said here,
This blog is not a bicycle blog,
however...

My first reference to bicycling on this blog was in my 3rd post.

My first reference to a Dutch-style bicycle was post 7: biking.

I literally said in the post:
I can pretend I am in Amsterdam -
it can be like vacation every day!

I think my subconscious was looking
for a happy place,
an escape from my reality,
and a way to bring my love for Europe and Scandinavia
to my everyday.

I also have a bad back that is a gift passed down to me from the women in my family,
maybe the only Swedish thing I do not like...
I have struggled with this back for years and it has influenced my life as it relates to bicycles.

Tired of riding a 'man's' bicycle, I bought my first 'woman's' bicycle - Lil'C
while living in California. I had hoped the more upright position of a mountain bicycle,
with slick tires for urban living, would be the ticket I needed to get me back on a bicycle with increased comfort and more frequency. And it did. I introduced myself to bicycle commuting, and reintroduced myself to solo riding, in the most lovely of places, San Francisco and Marin County, California. It anchored in my heart a desire for more.

I have had many ideas of what comfort is and what I thought it was not.
The two Trek bicycles I currently ride and the Pashley I own are a testament to what one thinks to be true
not always being reality.
Above all else, I listen to my body when I ride my bicycles ~ it does not lie,
and despite all the efforts of my heart to sway me, I must listen.

By April of 2007 I had taken a new job through which

I learned of a bicycle called the Electra Amsterdam

(one of my customers was using it as a store prop).

A lover of Dutch-Style bicycles since my first trip to The Netherlands,
and a seeker of supreme bicycle comfort,
I was completely intrigued by this bicycle;
it was the only thing like it in the US at the time.

I would say it was at this time that a full-blown
Dutch-style Bicycle obsession really began.

Two important points:
-This was at at time when most bicycles in the US
were either mountain bicycles, fixies or hybrid bicycles.
There were few good looking, non-'sporty', well designed bicycles available,
especially for women.
-This was also a time before there were other bicycle blogs
about people with Dutch-style bicycles,
especially women riding Dutch-style bicycles.
I wasn't even really thinking about trying to find like minded people,
who would have thought they existed?...

I suppose it was around this time that my obsession brought me to stumble upon

this curious little blog where a man was posting pictures of lovely Danish people
on Holy Smokes!!!~Dutch-style bicycles!
My worlds collided one morning over coffee.
People on beautiful bicycles,
in the middle of the winter,
looking beautiful,
embracing their everyday.
It was a bonus to me that these people could seemingly be happy
on well-designed bicycles
in a country that experiences about as much darkness and cold as my new state.
Could my happiness,
my comfort,
my love of good design,
and my fear of cold climates
combine for my greater good?

By April of 2008 my Dutch-style bicycle posts really ramped up.

And in May I went to Sweden.

This was a lovely time of solace in what had been a difficult 10 months.

The Swedes opened my eyes and my bicycle experiences during this trip sent my heart soaring.
We had the opportunity to test ride two Swedish bicycles during our trip and this will always be some of the warmest memories I treasure.

In 2008 we were committed to riding our bicycles more.
Making real my goal to enhance my everyday.
We had a very good summer of riding our bicycles
for social reasons,
for grocery runs,
to my crafty store,
to our local everything store,
to art openings,
I would ride to see H race,
to work,
we would ride to see the tdf.
It was also during this time that I wanted to start riding a lot more
in normal clothes;
skirts over my bicycle shorts,
and skirts in general.

Over the winter, we knew it was time for me to get serious about my bicycles.
Lil'C, had been good to me,
but it was time to move on.
I was definitely serious about Dutch-style bicycles.

And I was also riding Lil'C a lot. I had started kicking up my mileage and had been riding all over town.
It became clear to me I was riding the wrong bicycle and it was time
to get serious about the time I spent in lycra on a bicycle.
My husband steered me kicking and screaming towards a road bicycle.

Against all previous notions and common sense,
I set my sights on two bicycles
and by March of 2009 I had my first ever road bicycle
and my Dutch-style bicycle.
These bicycles have expanded my horizons,
opened my world,
taken me on many adventures,
and taught me a lot about my world,
and myself.
Most of all they have been my happiness.

My Bicycles...

The Trek:
2009 WSD 2.3
Aluminum Frame
When all is said and done, total weight is about 19 lbs.
Saddle: Fi'zi:k Vitesse hp
Tires: Specialized Armadillo
Size: 50 cm
I Love, Love, Love, this bicycle.
We are one and it is all that is me.

The Pash:
2009 Pashley Princess Sovereign
Steel frame (Reynolds 531)
Cork Grips, otherwise standard parts.

She is a sturdy and steady forever friend.