They're Danish, they ride long johns instead of wearing them and they've written to MT.
Moving Target,
Volume 3, Issue 2, 1992
Hello London Cycle buds and cycle freaks! We thought we'd let you in on what's happening on the streets of Juttish Denmark, several hundred kilometres from wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen. The snow hasn't been falling too heavily this winter so we have our Cannondales on the streets these days instead of our sledges, skis and huskies. The rain is still falling but the temperatures are rising and life on the streets for pedestrians is becoming harder. Here come the Cycle Buds.....
There has been a long tradition in Denmark of using cycles far work: police, firemen and most commonly, delivery boys on their Long John cycles [as used by Patrick Field to carry the wreath on the Marble Arch to Soho Sq. ride-Ed] especially designed for transporting crates of Danish beer. The boom in the wide-spread use of cars, aka stinking petrol cans on wheels, put an end to all that......but now we are back with a vengeance equipped with modern MTBs, walkie-talkies and computer guidance, but the power source man has been using since the Stone Age.
We are a relatively new company that was started by a bunch of friends a year and a half ago. Two cycle freaks dropped out of school to put into practice their ideas on starting a cycle messenger firm. A group of unemployed friends lent a hand, or rather a leg. The three that survived the winter went on to become the crazed joint owners. We now have five co-owners and 5 brain-sick messengers. We are a pretty international bunch, not just that we come from different parts of Denmark but also we have ccs here from Cologne, San Francisco and Birmingham. Even though the workload is increasing we manage to keep the collective attitude and lunacy predominant. Very characteristic of our firm is our method of dividing income: our ccs receive a steady wage. This requires team-spirit but enables us to work on a democratic basis. We hold weekly meetings where everything of importance is discussed, like who is on the hit-list for the coming week. We have a free cycle repair workshop and rapid repair service, like for example when one of our ccs got squashed between a bus and a truck our allen key wizard left his magazine and was on the spot in five minutes with a spare wheel (by the way, this techno-loony also ensured that the cheapest bike that we ride is worth 700 quid).
We are fortunate here in Aarhus that the bike is such an acceptable mode of transport. Therefore some of the one way streets are open in both directions to cyclists only (and even if they aren't we use them anyway). We have many cycle(psycho)paths which makes things easier for grannies and toddlers but not for men and women like us. So if you fancy riding in Denmark at a reasonable pace sure to steer clear of them! The times we really get to be a menace on these cycle ways is when we totally 'clear' them. Our cycle trailer loaded with £6000 worth of computer equipment is an effective aid to this..... (one of our funnier tours [tour=job Ed) was when we used the trailer to transport a bride to be on her Hen night. We worked overtime, they paid cash).
Sometimes we take serious tours, like the time we should've delivered a birthday cake to the Crown Prince of Denmark: (un)fortunately he wasn't home, so to prevent it from going stale we ate it instead.
By the smell in the air there's something rotten this day in the the state of Denmark. That's why we are here. It literally stinks when people need a van to transport a simple letter around the centre of town! We would like to wipe out our waste producing competition by putting more cycles on the streets. Everytime our phone rings it's potential van on the scrap-heap (ready to be re-cycled for better use.) We like to advertise a green message and have received sponsorship for our clothes from Greenpeace. Our customers are attracted to this but use us because we ride Greased Lighlning. We don’t look forward to a future where we have to wear anti-pollution masks and therefore are interested in pushing the green message further.
We are very interested in establishing international relations, exchanging stories and such like. One of our messengers is soon coming to London to start a travel agency. He's looking forward to seeing some of you ccs in action. In the meantime write to us!
A thousand tours and no punctures
... med venlig hilsen
Miles Ratledge Andreas Riecke
CYCLEBUDENE's address is:
Mejlgade 18 8000
Arhus C DENMARK
| main | articles | laws | zines | report | 10-9 day |
If you have comments or suggestions, email me at messvilleto@yahoo.com