Snowy Commute

In Chicago, the days with the most snow and ice are often the most stressful ones for commuting. Traffic is backed up and the risk of an accident is high. Yesterday we had a snowy commute in Copenhagen and I found it peaceful and relaxing.

One of the bike racks outside my apartment.

I'm not sure how much it snowed, but when I woke up on Tuesday morning, there was a thick layer of snow on the ground and it was still snowing. Going from my apartment to CBS doesn't take me through the city center, so I decided to take a detour to see what the snowy commute was like in central Copenhagen.

Bike commuters making their way through the snow.

Copenhagen has special snow sweepers for the bike lanes. I saw several out, but wasn't fast enough to get a picture. (If you're curious, you can see pictures and video here.) They also salt the bike lanes. Since it was still snowing when I was out, some of the bike lanes were a bit messy, but overall I felt very safe. There were enough cyclists out which helped to make a path through the snow. Everyone went a little more slowly, but I still felt like I was making good time.

Waiting for a light to change in the snow.

The reason the ride felt so peaceful and relaxing was how quiet it was. There was less car traffic out yesterday morning than there normally is. In part, this is probably because of the winter holiday this week, but also the roads didn't get plowed, just the bike lanes. There were spots where the roads were pretty messy and the bike lanes were totally clear. There were points when I was in the city center and there was not a car in sight. Just cyclists and snow. Not a bad way to get to work.