From Ashes To Ashes, Dust To Dust And Pedal To Pedal
Die hard bicycle riders are rejoicing that when they perish they’re now able to be transported to their final resting place by their preferred mode of transportation instead of inside gas guzzling hearses. And while the cycle-hearse trend has yet to gain a foothold outside of Oregon in the U.S., they’re a growing trend already being enjoyed in the U.K. France, Switzerland and Denmark.
Green Way Of Conducting Funerals
In Paris, undertaker Isabelle Plumereau claims bicycle hearses bring a new “green” way of conducting funerals to the French capital. She says that transporting coffins with specially designed cargo bikes is a quieter, environmentally conscious and ‘softer’ way to move deceased loved ones, providing a more down to earth pace to funerals.
Soft Mobility
Plumereau said, “For me, it makes sense to combine the bicycle and the hearse, because when we talk about bicycles in Paris, we’re talking about soft mobility. And if there’s one day when we need softness, it’s the day we accompany a loved one to their final resting place. It’s very important to give families meaning in the ceremony, but also to give them beauty, because beauty also brings comfort. Of course we will not prevent sadness, but we can still bring a touch of originality so that the funeral’s a celebration, not a sordid moment.”
Methods Common To Culture And Era Used To Haul Bodies To Gravesites
Historically, deceased bodies were hauled to cemeteries or gravesites by whatever the mode of transport was common to that culture or time, i.e., by pushing or pulling a wagon or cart, horse-drawn hearses, camel-topped hearses, or unfortunate minions carrying the decorated containers of the deceased to graves on their shoulders, such as in ancient Egypt.
Today there are several novel afterlife transportation options for consumers to choose from, including pedal power. Some of the more popular methods include a flame-throwing hearse, a Venetian gondola hearse, a hot rod/muscle car hearse, a stretched Prius hearse and a tractor hearse – among others.
Bicycle Hearses Require A Lot Of Power To Operate
“The Bicycle funeral hearse offers the choice for keen, professional or occasional cyclists to have their last journey by cycle, rather than by petrol or diesel power,” reads a UK bicycle hearse website (http://www.bicyclehearse.co.uk/). “It also compliments an eco-funeral or provides that ‘something different.’” However, bicycle hearses take serious effort to power.
Bike hearse frames and equipment weigh well over 100 pounds. The rider, body and coffin add another 300 to 400 pounds to the load, so bike hearses can require a lot of power to move. To solve the problem of transporting the deceased without arriving with a funeral director drenched in sweat, cycle hearses have been electrified. (https://workcycles.com/)
Bicycle Hearses Make Sense For The Modern World
In many ways, the bicycle hearse makes sense for our time. In an age when human beings are attempting to reconsider their forms of energy and modes of transport, and in some cases rediscovering the outdoors and their own body’s ability to do work and exercise, the blossoming of the bicycle hearse falls right in line.
But, the bicycle hearse trend still has a lot of acceptance to gain and a long way to go before it can be considered a common method to transport bodies to final resting places. For more information, visit ‘Welcome To The Age Of The Bicycle Hearse‘, ‘Why Choose A Bicycle Hearse?‘ and to find out more about cargo bikes, check out ‘Worksman Cycles‘.
