Viking Biking and a Little Thing I Love About Paris

One of the things I love more than anything is riding my bike, and up until recently I have been doing just that to get to and from work every day. It is a bit of a ride, but it wakes me up in the morning, keeps me active and in shape, and makes me feel good about myself. But lately since the temps have dropped so low, I have lost a bit of my motivation. And with that has come guilt (especially with all the holiday eating), because there are certainly a lot of bikes still on the road, and in some of the coldest European countries people ride all year round. Do you see these pics from Copenhagen Cycle Chic? Viking biking is what they call it. Pretty amazing huh? Has definitely given me some motivation to ride to work tomorrow with the between -3°C and    -11°C weather. Eeek.

I know, I know, I should stop writing about exercising in winter. So how about this: speaking of biking, one of the little things I loved about Paris was seeing all the bicycles around, and I am not talking about those silver rent-a-bikes. Similar to the way Parisians dress (awwe-mazing), there seemed to be a bike chicness protocol that everyone adhered to. All the bikes I saw were vintage or vintage-inspired and black, no joke, never anything else. I loved seeing them all parked next to each other at the racks, waiting for their well-dressed owners to unlock them and ride off with a baguette in the basket... Here are a couple examples via the Sartorialist and Yanidel's Street Photography in Paris blog. Cute, right?