I spent a week and a half in Copenhagen, and as I told most people, my plan was to ride bikes around and see things, and I accomplished the task, and I also learned a little Danish history as well, and I walked a lot of steps every day. This is my summary of the trip, the highlights I think everyone should do, and the awkward moments where things got lost in translation.
First, the most important thing, the bikes. I did not actually get on a bike until the day after I got there, and I rented a Donkey Bike (bike share) named Art to bike to the zoo. I also biked from there to a castle and lunch that day and then back to my hostel. The thing that I do not like about the bike share bikes is the internally geared hub. While it is great for city riding, there is a small hill going to the zoo where I would have liked another gear, since these only have three. They also tend to have some shifting issues. Art worked well, but the other two I rented, one for two days to get around named Schatz and one to get back from a bar crawl needed adjustment.
I also rented a gravel bike planning to ride three days, but the third day I could not bring myself to ride in the rain again, and I have mixed thoughts here. When I arrived at the shop, the bike I had rented was not there, apparently it was stolen, which is how I ended up on the gravel bike that they built while I waited. The problem I had was they tried to give me a bike two sizes too big before offering me that, and I felt like they assumed I knew nothing about bikes. They also gave me the wrong pedals (Shimano instead of Look) and I had to pay extra for a flat kit and helmet, and there were no water bottle cages. I attribute this to the fact that most people in Copenhagen are looking for city bikes, but I wanted to ride 20-30 miles and the Donkey Bike would not be good for it.
Moving on from the bikes, I did choose not to do any structured training during this trip, unless I felt like it. I chose this, because I felt like it would take away from getting to see as much as possible if I was trying to also fit in specific workouts. I brought my clothes to train if I wanted to, but I was also walking over ten thousand steps every day, some days closer to twenty, so I was active, just not in the way I am used to when I am at home. I tried to walk or bike anywhere within two miles until I rented the gravel bike and then I started taking the train more, because my legs were tired.
There was so much to see that walking and biking everywhere made sense. I was able to walk from my hostel or bike to the zoo, multiple museums, restaurants, and castles, and even with ten days (and some rain) there are still more things I could go do and see. I also walked to what was voted the second most disappointing attraction in Europe (the little mermaid, which is indeed little), and I saw what I think should be voted the least disappointing attraction (pictured above), which is a statue protesting a parking deck being built below the area where it stands.
Overall, this trip was perfect for me. I was walking between fifteen and twenty thousand steps a day, I learned about Danish history, ate some Danish food (and some non-Danish food), and I had time to relax without thoughts of work, training, and my life back home. I did miss my animals, and I am happy to be back home with them now, but the trip was definitely worth the cost and the time.