Thursday, March 24, 2011

2011 recumbent tour: Copenhagen-to-Land's End

Finally I've decided on a destination and time-table for this year's tour. Starting on or about May 2, 2011, I will travel from Copenhagen, Denmark to Esbjerg and cross by ferry to Harwich, UK. From there I will cycle to Cornwall to attend the May 7 Cornish festival well as visit with Howard Curnow- local bard, frequent visitor to Europe, and spokeman/organizer for the Cornwall-to-Copenhagen group tour during last year's Environment Conference in Copenhagen.

Along the way, I will try to visit various friends and colleagues, as well as record the trip through my blog, photos, and/or videos.

My ride will be on the 2010 Steintrike Nomad Sport, carrying my camping equipment in a set of Ortlieb bags. Have not decided yet whether to take along a WildCat fairing for weather protection against the English rain, but will look into that in the coming weeks.

My currently planned route can be found here: http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=ilipdqjzuuhapmzt

My regular blog adventures can be followed in this space. I'll try to update with interesting babble and photos along the way.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Why not a helmet?

Earlier this week I was asked "why don't you wear a helmet?" while I was cycling home from work on my recumbent trike by a passing helmet-wearing cyclist. We ended up having a rather terse discussion on the subject, as we were continuing to cycle through Copenhagen.

"Because I am safer, " I replied.

"But if you get hit by a truck, you will be killed!" he retorted.

"A helmet is not going to save me when a truck runs me over if that is the case," I contested.

"You should protect your brain, " he pleaded.

"No, I should use my brain - which is far safer than a flimsy piece of plastic and foam that does not actually succeed in any re-world product testing" I answered, and