Louisiana or Bust

The whole point of this trip is to explore and experience. I had an afternoon without a scheduled agenda and I decided to solo trip north to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. I knew the trip was roughly 30 kilometers and I could return to Copenhagen via a commuter train with frequent service to make a 7pm dinner. Good enough for me. So I headed north not knowing what to expect and very curious about the more suburban or rural cycling infrastructure that connects communities.

A whimsical piece called "As Long as the Sun Lasts" by Alex de Corte

So what did I encounter? Heading north out of the city was a bit hectic and actually quite stressful despite the separated facilities. It was a busy Saturday morning and there was just a lot of people. People on bicycles, walking and driving. However, I did find some amazing little "garage sales" along the way and bought a gorgeous handknit sweater from a grandma selling her wares for 100 danish krone. Score.

"Garage" sale in a random empty lot. One of multiple little sales I encountered.

Thankfully within about 10 km, the development ended and the road opened up to just shoreline with some intermittent parks and beaches. This was the newest and nicest section with a recently reconstructed section. It was BIG and WIDE and very, very fresh. It was also SHOCKING to me how few cars there were on the road. I'd assumed there would be a bit of a Saturday morning exodus from the city to the beach along this route. But mostly, it was me and the road cyclists. Oh and some buses of course.

Oh the parity! People walking, biking and driving all get roughly the same amount of space.

The Danes are not afraid of wide ROW and narrow travel lanes.

This project was so new the plastic was still on! These are little rest bars for cyclists at stop lights. They're gaining in popularity.

Lots of thermaplastic. This was also the ONLY crossing I found with a pedestrian push button.

I continued north following the coast line until I found myself in a bit of trouble a time or two when my facility disappeared. Yes, the cycletrack and sidewalk ended. While I'm sure the Danes would have been forgiving enough and not hit me in this section, I figured it would not be a great idea to continue and turned around like a reasonable human.

Honestly happy to see this in Denmark. They're not perfect either.

It was about this time that noticed some cycle route numbers. I figured I'd follow the wayfinding and see where it would lead me. To truth tell, I'm always a bit dubious of wayfinding and cycleroutes because the execution can always leave something to be desired and I really didn't want to get myself lost.

Part of the signed route. Who on earth manages this vegetation?

Not a bad view from the path.

The signed route took me on a somewhat direct 6 ft (max) path in a vegetation tunnel. There were some easement/access points to some neighborhoods. The path generally followed the rail line north. It was quite pleasant for awhile but I have to say, I didn't love the narrow width or the darkness of the vegetative tunnel. The amazing things were that the vegetation was well managed, there were VERY few tree roots and I saw lighting in the darkest sections. But I felt secluded which made me uncomfortable. Whenever I'm traveling solo, I like to know my exit strategy and this felt too isolated for me. So I wound my way back to the coastline and boy was it incredible. Well actually, it's more incredible than the below picture shows but I can't figure out how to upload a video that shows the gorgeous water, seagrass and cows.

All my dreams of a low speed, low traffic, cycletracked coastal route!

So I finally arrived at the wonderful Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. After 2 hours of aggressively riding my 3-speed, I looked a bit worse for wear. So I ate a sandwich, looked at some world-class art, people watched and then wandered off to find my train back to Copenhagen.

My perfectly capable although not speedy 3-speed.

The train was electric and the station was centrally located and easy to find. So good on Denmark for that. However, the ticket machine wouldn't take foreign credit cards nor cash so I had to find a nice Danish person to buy me a ticket. All in the adventure.