Three Days, Three Bike Marathons: The Danish Isles

I don't consider myself a cyclist, but I do love using my bike as my main tool to get from point A to point B. The past few days, we have been doing some longer distance rides and it has been a highly satisfying and enjoyable experience. I have never done a long distance ride before, as most of my trips are just around an urban setting, so the thought of doing three days of 28 mile rides was a bit intimidating, but I was excited at the opportunity to push myself and try a new style of biking. 

When we left Copenhagen for the countryside, we took two trains, and on a side note, this was the most pleasant train experience I've ever had. The station was clean and beautiful, and the train car was also clean and very comfortable. There was designated places to put your bike and luggage, and it all felt very futuristic and precise. The trains have a very regular schedule that factor in waiting for other trains to pass, so that you don't have unexpected delays. For longer land travels, I would definitely recommend the train system in Denmark. 

Train Station in Copenhagen

Anyways, we got to a smaller town called Svendborg (say it out loud, its fun) where our hostel was. That same day we went out on a light 10 mile ride around an adjacent island. Let me tell you, the little towns/villages that we encountered on the island were the definition of adorable and quaint. At the time I thought to myself that this ride was long and tiring, but later I would discover that this was just a bit of a warmup. 

That's Svendborg (from the ferry)

The next morning we were up bright and early to catch a 9 am ferry to Ærø island for the first 28 miler. The ferry had special spots for bike parking on the lowest deck with the cars which is something that is uncommon in the US. 

We landed on the island and immediately took off for our trek. The port village that the ferry dropped us in was cute (obviously) and even a place as small as that had a decent amount of bike infrastructure and ways to get on to the recreational bike path. The first 16 miles flew by, and when we stopped for lunch, only an hour had passed (for anyone needing the calculations, that's about 16 miles per hour). I was shocked at how easy it was to move at that pace for long distances and how freeing it felt to have everything I needed for the day strapped to my bike.

Around mile 19 we encountered some very strange looking cows that looked like a cartoon come to life (super weird). 

With about 6 miles to go, we stopped along a beach for a quick dip, and after this is when things started to go downhill. The day was very warm and by this point I was starting to get tired. Let me tell you that those last 6 miles felt like a different ride entirely, and we (myself and new bike comrade Nina) barely managed to drag ourselves back to town. However, our spirits were greatly improved after a celebratory pint of Guinness (a good post-workout drink). 

The next day we set out for our first real travel day, that is with the goal of getting from A to B. We were traveling from Svendborg (again, you really should say it aloud for a boost of serotonin) to Korinth. We discovered that there was a 13 mile route, but we were assigned to take the 28 miler. This time we were not traveling on a bike path, but instead on some country roads (cue the song). I found this ride to be very pleasant, due in no small part to the absolutely genius idea to strap a speaker to my bike rack for some inspiring tunes. 

For the most part, this ride was lacking in bike lanes or anything of the like, but for some reason every once in a while a bike lane would appear for a short stretch and then disappear again. Although unhelpful for practical purposes, it served as brief reminders that bikes are in the minds of those in the community (something that they are not in rural American communities). There was about a 4 mile stretch in this ride that felt particularly unsafe where we were biking along a highway (think the highway from Portland to the beach if you are familiar) and there were no bike lanes or anything. Cars were still respectful of us, but it was terrifying for them to pass at such high speeds. 

We made it to Korinth in one piece, to find that it was a very small and slightly creepy town. You could walk from one end of it to the other in about 5 minutes, and the hostel we were staying in was smack next to several abandoned buildings. 

After a pancake breakfast, we got back on the road to Odense. Some of the group got on the train after a 10 mile stretch on a superb rails to trails path, but since I am not a quitter I decided to keep on the trek all the way to Odense. 

The rails to trails path is a great example of cheap bike infrastructure that is possible anywhere and of something that the US actually does. The process is simply to take an unused stretch of rail and cover it in smooth pavement for bikers and pedestrians to use. The path is already flat since it is meant for trains, and there are no obstacles necessary to remove. Plus, it already connects cities and towns so it is a great option for long bike rides. 

After we passed the train station, we were back to streets, but luckily the busier ones had excellent bike infrastructure for us to enjoy. There were bike lanes, bike lights, and signage to make sure that we were on the right path to Odense. Overall it was a very enjoyable ride and it brought my total milage for the week to over 100 miles which I am very proud of.

Biking long distances hasn't been something that I have considered doing in the path, but its very cool to get on your bike in one city and then get off in somewhere completely different. It left me feeling very accomplished and like cycling could be a real way to travel to far away places in the future.