2008 ReDiscovery Tour
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Some 300 people showed up at Rådhuspladsen in Copenhagen to ride with Ambassdor Cain. Click to see more photos.
Day 37 - July 04 - Copenhagen Town Hall Square to Rydhave
On July 04, 2008 Ambassador Cain ended his nationwide ReDiscovery Tour riding from Copenhagen Town Hall up to his residence, Rydhave, with special stops along the way. Some 300 people showed up to participate.
Make sure you look at the photo gallery, just click the photo caption.
Please read Ambassador Cain's blog entry about July 4 below.
The final day of the ReDiscovery Tour had arrived all too soon,
but what a day it was! The weather was perfect. And when I arrived
at Copenhagen Town Hall I could hardly believe what I was seeing.
Bikes everywhere!
Hundreds of people had joined us for the last day, and all riders
were wearing T-shirts and yellow reflective vests from our
sponsors Jysk and Novozymes. It was really a thrill to see all
these "uniformed" co-riders. Most of the people there were
people who had participated on the ReDiscovery Tour over the last
year. It was great to see all these people again and refresh fond
memories of all the great days I've had on the road. People had
come from the farthest corners of the country and indeed the world,
including Northern Jutland, Southern Jutland, Lolland, Falster,
Bornholm and even Borneo. We had co-riders from age 5 to 75 and
from all walks of life. We even had a couple of American riders
who had heard aboutthe Tour and wanted to join.
I was particularly glad to have my bike sponsor, Danish cyclist
legend Ole Ritter join me for this last ride. His ‘Ole Ritter
Special” bike has beena faithful companion throughout the tour.
Many other good friends also joined me, including Minister for
Development Assistance Ulla Tørnæs and her entire family, Minister
for Education Bertel Haarder, Copenhagen Deputy Mayor Pia
Allerslev, Lotte Heise, renowned actor Flemming Enevold, TV news
anchor sports celebrities Claus Elming and Jesper Elming, President
of the Danish Sports Cycling Union Tom Lund, Director of the Danish
Leisure Cyclist Federation Jens Loft Rasmussen, President of the
Danish Leisure Cyclist Federation Claus Hansen and Copenhagen
University Pro-Rector Lykke Friis. We must have had ten mayors from
around Denmark, and I was delighted that Cecilie Hallev, my friend
from Hastrup in Køge could join. And it was a particular thrill to
have many staff from the Embassy and my daughter Laura by my side.
It was definitely an “All Star Cast.”
After shaking the hand and saying hello to each co-riders and having
been interviewed by national media I grabbed a bullhorn and got up
on stairs in front of Copenhagen City Hall. I welcomed all the
co-riders and thanked them for showing up and celebrating the end
of the ReDiscovery Tour and celebrating America's birthday.
At around 10:35 a.m. six police motorcycles and three police cars
rolled into position signaling that it was time to start riding.
Copenhagen Police had been kind enough to give us a full police escort.
Not just a motorcycle in front of the peloton and one behind, but the
full scale version with motorcycles blocking all side roads and
intersections along the way.
The first ride was less than half a kilometer from Copenhagen Town Hall
Square to the main entrance of Tivoli. At the entrance we were greeted by
the Tivoli Guard. Inside Tivoli I was greeted by Bearemy, Build-A-Bear's
mascot. Bearemy, who is over six feet tall, was holding a much smaller bear
wearing a pin-stripe suit. It turned out that the little bear, called
Paddington, was the latest addition to the embassy staff. Paddington's
chief assignment will be reaching out to kids.
The ride through Tivoli went quick and a few minutes later we were on our
way through Copenhagen. Going through Copenhagen is very easy when you
have a police escort! After hitting the brakes at the first two or three
red lights you get accustomed to just driving through with the police
blocking the side roads. The police escort was so efficient that we
arrived at our mid-tour stop 20 minutes ahead of schedule.
That just meant more time to play basket ball with the kids from Copenhagen
Municipality's "Summer Camp 2008" program. We arrived at Nørrebro Hallen
in the northern part of central Copenhagen called Nørrebro, which is
Copenhagen's most ethnically diverse area. I arrived there with Copenhagen
Deputy Mayor for Leisure and Cultural Affairs and since basketball is a
leisure activity, what better than to shoot a few hoops with her and the
kids at Nørrebro Hallen. I briefly introduced myself, the mayor and the
entourage and then I hit the court. There were some really talented kids
playing, we had some great "dogfights" and a wonderful shooting competition.
Before moving on towards the residence I did a couple of interviews.
Then we moved on towards the residence at a daunting speed of around 12 km/h.
We had to take it really easy because we had quite a lot of small kids
riding along. On the ride up to Charlottenlund Fort I invited the Ministers
and Cecilie to join me at the head of the line. Cecilie, the 14 year old
Dane who started the football club for young ethnic girls in Hastrup,
symbolizes all three of the themes we have been focusing on during the Tour:
the Spirit of Entrepreneurship, a Celebration of Cultural Diversity, and the
Power of Private Action. I wanted her up front where the media and my
co-riders could get to know her.
At Charlottenlund Fort, our designated rendez vous point for riders who
couldn't ride from the beginning we had time to enjoy the good weather and
the good company while Rydhave was being prepared for the big party. I had
the opportunity to talk with many of the co-riders and say hello to newly
arrived co-riders. I got goosebumps when my wife Helen rode in on her bike
to join us. Her first ride of the Tour! One of my guest riders loaned me
her “DoRag” to put on my head, so for the finale I was definitely the
coolest looking Ambassador ever. As the ride had progressed over the morning
new riders began to join us. Now as we headed down the last stretch to
Rydhave we must have had at least 300 riders on bicycle.
The last stretch up to Rydhave – a full 1.5 km – was great. We all parked
our bikes in front of the house and walked into the garden. The media was
in full force, and could not wait to get photos of the “Ambassador in DoRag”.
We enjoyed boxed lunches from SAS Airlines and Scandic Hotels, ice
cream from Coldstone Creamery and Tropicana Juice for everybody.
While everybody was getting their lunches and settling in the shade under
the many trees the wonderful CIS band was entertaining. Mette, Joe, Alex
and Chris had rehearsed for weeks at our house and they sounded terrific.
As soon as people were settled in, I got on stage to welcome everybody and
to thank them for participating in the ReDiscovery Tour. I spoke about the
themes of the tour and about what I have learned about Denmark and the
Danes. I introduced them to Cecilie and spoke of her symbolizing the three
themes of the tour. I think Cecilie was a bit surprised to be called on
stage in front of 300 people but she managed great.
As you know I have been handing out ReDiscovery Coins to participants and
co-riders along the route over the last year. There were however four
coins left that had not been handed out yet. The first coin went to the
most resilient co-rider of them all; a co-rider who has been there every
kilometer of every day and never complained once. I am of course talking
about EMU, our blue stuffed co-riding representative from the Danish
Ministry of Education who has been ever present throughout the tour.
The next three coins were for Bo, Mick and Philip who have also been with me
throughout the tour, making sure we got where we were supposed to go, that
there were coins for co-riders, the priceless "Mick Stops", photos,
snacks, and all those other things that make a project like this work.
After my speech, we had a small lottery where the lucky winners got to walk
away with either an X-Box supplied by Microsoft or an EMU supplied by
UNI-C / Ministry of Education. Then it was time for the main entertainment
of the day. My friend Remee had arranged for “Basim“, the wonderful young
talent from the Danish TV show X-Factor to sing a few songs. A couple of
songs into Basim's great performance I interrupted the show with a little
surprise. Apart from being America's birthday, July 4 is also Basim's birthday,
so Helen had ordered a special graffiti birthday cake for Basim.
Basim didn't know that I knew it was his birthday so you can imagine how
surprised he was when I asked the entire crowd to sing happy birthday to
Basim. Basim cut the cake and shared it with many of the teenage girls who
seemed very happy to hang out and eat birthday cake with him. All charged
up by the birthday cake Basim finished his set in great form.
A big thank you goes out to all participants, co-arrangers, hosts, co-riders,
sponsors and to Basim for making this tour and its spectacular ending
possible. It's been a great experience, showing the great hospitality and
friendship Denmark is known for.
The day marked a wonderful end to a wonderful tour. A tour where America
learned a lot more about this great country, and where I would like to
think the Danish people saw a side of America they do not see in the media.
I hope the Tour has left a lasting impression on the people of Denmark.
I know it has left a lasting impression on me. Best of all, I leave the
Tour with great confidence that these two countries will remain close allies
and friends long into the future, just as we have for the past 217 years.
If you want to know more about what I learned, who I met, and the experiences
I had , you’ll have to Read The Book!