Geführte Fahrradtouren in und um Reykjavik und Island

Stolz präsentiert Anna Karlotta, bald 6 Jahre alt, ihr neues Kinderfahrrad - freilich ohne Stützräder. Sie wird auch in der Saison 2012 wieder ihre Eltern Ursula Spitzbart und Stefan Helgi Valsson, die Gründer von Reykjavik Bike Tours tatkräftig unterstützen.

Reykjavik Bike Tours bietet seit 2009 geführte Fahrradtouren in und um Islands Hauptstadt an. Auch Familien mit Kindern jeden Alters sind herzlich willkommen. Kinderfahrräder, Kindersitz, Kinderhelme und Fahrradanhänger stehen bereit, auch zum Verleih.

Rent a bike in Reykjavik

Rent a bicycle in Reykjavik and explore this bicycle friendly capital city of Iceland. There is no better way to explore the city. At Reykjavik Bike Tours you can rent a bicycle for an afternoon, for the day or for a long-distance bicycle tour along the ring road of Iceland for example.

Reykjavik Bike Tours in Iceland have Trek 4300 and Trek Navigator in several sizes. Also children's bikes and trailers, and luggage trailers.

City tours of Reykjavik by bike and day tours from Reykjavik on a bicycle are also available. The tours in 2012 are: Classic Reykjavik Bike Tour, Coast of Reykjavik Bike Tour, Golden Circle & Bike, Vestmannaeyjar Islands & Bike, and new this year - Blue Lagoon & Bike.

Contact Reykjavik Bike Tours for further information.

Fantastic Northern lights last night in Reykjavik

I was in Reykjavik 9 October 2012 at about 9:20 PM when the northern lights decided to appear. What a wonderful display of greens above the city lake - Tjornin. The green colour is produced as a result of a collision of space particles against some gases 100-200 km above ground, Oxygen in particular.

This display lasted for at least half-hour and I am sure that many tourists in Reykjavik did see the lights on one of the many northern lights tours offered. I was booked to to do a private norhtern lights tour for a family but some of the participants were rather young and could not stay up too late. As a result the cancelled the trip that night. Fifteen minutes later I saw the lights above Reykjavik City Hall.

Stefan Helgi Valsson

Reykjavik Bike Tours

Bicycle path in Reykjavik worth US$ 3 million

The Reykjavik city council agreed today to allow tender for the construction of bicycle- and pedestrian path from Elliðaá river estuary to Hlemmur, mbl.is reported 15 March 2012.

This US$ 3 million project is sure to encourage people to use their bicycles more in Reykjavik. There are already several bicycle paths in Reykjavik although there is still much work to be done. Reykjavik is nowhere near Copenhagen or Amsterdam when it comes to bicycle paths for cyclists.

However, there has been an interesting shift in the mind-set of the public and public officials in recent years and months in Iceland. Bicycling is no longer considered exclusive to children and adults living on the fringe.

Map of bicycle routes in Reykjavik is available at tourist information centres.

Reykjavik Bike Tours

Hjólaverslunin Örninn með bestu reiðhjólin

"Leiðsögn á hjólum um Reykjavík er tilvalin leið til að kynnast borginni," segir Ursula Spitzbart, stofnandi Reykjavík Bike Tours og höfundur bókarinnar Zwischen Licht und Dunkel – Abenteuer Alltag in Island.

Reykjavík Bike Tours hóf starfsemi árið 2009 og hefur síðan boðið uppá ferðir á reiðhjólum með leiðsögn um Reykjavík og nágrenni - aðallega fyrir erlenda ferðamenn og á fjölmörgum tungumálum.

Ursula segist finna fyrir auknum áhuga á reiðhjólaferðum um Reykjavík og nágrenni með leiðsögn. "Viðskiptavinir okkar hafa flestir heyrt um okkur frá vinum og kunningjum eða lesið lofsamlegar greinar um okkur og leita okkur uppi," segir Ursula

Fyrirtækið hefur frá upphafi lagt mikið uppúr leiðsögn um Reykjavík á reiðhjóli og ávalt verið með fagmenntaða leiðsögumenn útskrifaða frá Leiðsöguskóla Íslands, Háskóla Íslands og Ferðamálaskólanum á Bíldshöfða.

"Fagleg, skemmtileg og persónuleg leiðsögn skilar alltaf ánægðum viðskiptavinum og það er það sem við viljum að spyrjist út," segir Ursula.

"Við verslum nær eingöngu við reiðhjólaverslunina Örninn vegna þess að þeir selja - að því að við teljum - bestu reiðhjólin. Við erum með Trek navigator 2.0 borgar / fjallahjól sem eru alveg frábær bæði á malbiki og möl. Ennfremur erum við með 24 gíra Trek 4300 fjallahjól með diskabremsum og góðum framdempurum sem eru tilvalin hjól í miðlungs / erfiðari fjallahjólamennsku, t.d. á stígum í Heiðmörk," segir Ursula.

Aðspurð segist Ursula bjartsýn á komandi ferðasumar enda hlaut landið mikla athygli erlendis vegna Eyjafjallajökuls í fyrra. "Við skulum nú rétt vona að við fáum ekki nýtt eldgost á allra næstu vikum og mánuðum því það mundi bitna illa á fyrirtækjum í ferðaþjónustu og öllu því harðduglega fólki sem starfar í greininni."

Reykjavík Bike Tours býður ferðir með leiðsögn á reiðhjóli um Reykjavík nágrenni, t.d Heiðmörk, Gullfoss og Geysi, Vestmannaeyjar, og Bláa lónið. Ennfremur býður fyrirtækið uppá þjónustu við sérhópa, ferðaskrifstofur, skólahópa, hvataferðir fyrir fyrirtæki, steggjanir og gæsun svo eitthvað sé nefnt.

Reykjavik Bike Tours

More men bicycle than women

Men bicycle a lot more than women according to a survey made in Reykjavik Iceland. The survey focused on commuters within the city. Pressan web media, asked Oddny Sturludottir, a member of the Reykjavik city council. "There's probably many reasons," she said. "The bicycle culture has in some way been based on the assumption that everyone bicycling needs to use expensive bicycle and equipment in order to be able to bicycle all year round. This appeals, it seems, more to men than women. Further, the explanation may be found in the way that the sexes delegate tasks, such as picking up the children from the Kindergarten, shop for groceries etc. And Reykjavik must be a safe city to bicycle in, I'm certain that in this context it is important."

And Oddny Sturludottir continues:

"We must find ways to ensure that women bicycle as much as men. Women bicycle just as much as men in the cities where there is a strong bicycle culture. Role models also matter. If women bicycle less because they think the surroundings are not safe enough, then they're sceptical about cycling with their children. If this is the case we'll struggle to raise new generations of bicycling public."