The participants from the American delegation were presented to the cycling paths of Aarhus and the cycling paths to come – all seen from bikes. And the delegation was beyond impressed:
- It was a lot of fun to get back on a bike after 35 years and I would wish that we in the US could get the safety as a cyclist that you have here, said Suzette Cooke, mayor of the City of Kent following the bike ride.

She is a part of the NGO Bikes Belong Foundation that brought a delegation consisting of influential leaders and public figures from Seattle, Boston and L.A. with the responsibility of transportation - all to promote the use of bikes in the US. Aarhus is a part of their “Bicycle Transportation Leadership Study Tour”.

Aarhus seen from a bike
Aarhus Cycling City is partly responsible for hosting the delegation while they are in Aarhus, sharing thoughts and ideas with the delegation, such as how infrastructure, politics, laws, city planning and design influences the success of a bike friendly city. As a part of the visit, Aarhus Cycling City presented a vision for bike-friendly city planning and then the delegation had to see it put to life.
- The most interesting about the trip was seeing how big a part of the road was dedicated to pedestrians and cyclists. It gives them a big advantage and must give people a desire to bike around, which also benefits the city as a whole, said Bruno Maier from Bikes Belong. His colleague Zach Vanderkooy adds;
- It’s fascinating to see how cyclists are highlighted in the traffic with their own marked cycling paths, which might be normal in Denmark, but is considered new and experimenting in the US. I think it served as a good inspiration for many in the delegation to see this work and how it could be implemented in American cities.

Bikes Belong visits the world’s most bike-friendly cities
Bikes Belong have dedicated their work to make people use their bike more often and to improve government funding to improve the infrastructure of American cities. The organization hopes that their visits to the most bike-friendly cities in the world will help inspire more improvements for American cyclists.
- We are very proud to have been chosen as a city of inspiration, as we know that Bikes Belong plans their visits to reach the most bike-friendly cities in the world. We consider it a great recognition of our work that they come all the way from the US to learn from us. We hope that the Americans can use our input to promote cycling in their own cities, says Joachim Parbo, cycling inspector from Aarhus Cycling City, who guided the tour around the city.