Why Do So Many Dutch People Cycle?

This is a really fun read on why The Netherlands has more bikes than people and why most of us use them in our everyday lives.

Why is cycling so popular in the Netherlands?

The Dutch faith in the reliability and sustainability of the motor vehicle was also shaken by the Middle East oil crisis of 1973, when oil-producing countries stopped exports to the US and Western Europe.

 

Twin pressures helped to persuade the Dutch government to invest in improved cycling infrastructure and Dutch urban planners started to diverge from the car-centric road-building policies being pursued throughout the urbanising West.

As the children grow up they take to their own bikes, something made easier and safer by the discrete cycle lanes being wide enough for children to ride alongside an accompanying adult. And, as young people aren't allowed to drive unsupervised until they are 18, cycling offers Dutch teenagers an alternative form of freedom.

 

The state also plays a part in teaching too, with cycling proficiency lessons a compulsory part of the Dutch school curriculum. All schools have places to park bikes and at some schools 90% of pupils cycle to class.

The bike is an integral part of everyday life rather than a specialist's accessory or a symbol of a minority lifestyle, so Dutch people don't concern themselves with having the very latest model of bike or hi-tech gadgets.

 

They regard their bikes as trusty companions in life's adventures. In that kind of relationship it is longevity that counts - so the older, the better. It's not uncommon to hear a bike coming up behind you with the mudguard rattling against the wheel. If anything, having a tatty, battered old bike affords more status as it attests to a long and lasting love.

More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23587916

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It's a really cool to see how social ideas, economics, demographics and geography all play their part in cycling not being hipster or for 'treehuggers', but how really everybody does it. I know a CEO of a major Dutch company who refused a private driver for home-work travel and opted to ride his bike instead. If you live close enough to your work, your sports club or your school, you take a bike. It's easy, it's often quicker, it's really cheap and it's very safe. Strict rules ensure the safety of bike riders, but police is equally strict in keeping their eyes on your bike, because you get seriously penalized for a lack of reflectors or light or for unsafely crossing the road.

Do you guys ride bikes and if so, is it for work? Is it for fun? Did you go to school by bike?

I biked to school. From the moment I could bike I would meet up with friends and ride the few blocks to school under the supervision of at least one of our parents. Later on, about age 10, I'd ride alone, but since the school was in the heart of the neighbourhood, there was always someone guarding us or a friend to bike with. In high school I rode my bike as well. 3 miles one way and 3 miles back. It kept me fit, especially when I was late.

In college, well, same story. Everybody rides their bike to class. Basically I've been on bikes with my parents and biking on my own since I was a few months old. It's something that's so deeply rooted in our culture and it's something I hope to continue doing in the US, although many of my biking experiences have been frightful. Even in fairly quiet Madison, WI, which was recently named America's most bike-friendly city, I felt not nearly as safe riding a bike as in buzzing downtown Amsterdam. Those damn trucks and SUVs get awfully close sometimes.

I used to bike everywhere. Then I turned 16 and wanted to get laid. Haven't rode one since!

Good shit!

I would love to ride, but I cant get three carseats on the back of the bike.

I used to bike everywhere. Then I turned 16 and wanted to get laid. Haven't rode one since!

How far of a drive is it for the average Canadian to find a mating partner of their own age though? :rofl:

Good shit!

 

I would love to ride, but I cant get three carseats on the back of the bike.

You need to get yourself a bakfiets. ;)

http://i.imgur.com/oHrlZK8.jpg

Well I lived 3 concessions out of town, so a minimum of 8km. I walked it once. No nooky, but lots of fire fly's!!

We're also 140k from the nearest public transit.

Well I lived 3 concessions out of town, so a minimum of 8km. I walked it once. No nooky, but lots of fire fly's!!

 

We're also 140k from the nearest public transit.

Yikes! I lived two blocks from the biggest club in the area, just a couple kilometers from school and the train station is around the corner. One of the strengths of Dutch infrastructure is the density and proximity of most everything you need. It makes most of the country feel like continuous suburbia, but it's pleasant living.

I used to bike everywhere. Then I turned 16 and wanted to get laid. Haven't rode one since!

I'm about to sell my car for a bicycle...and I have a sports car....

Trying to make a lifestyle change.

I'm about to sell my car for a bicycle...and I have a sports car....

Trying to make a lifestyle change.

Hope you get a good price on that car, cos in the cycling community we addicts have an affliction called n+1 (can't have too many bikes)

And in Ronto (if that's where you are), you're gonna have the perfect excuse to get a Surly Pugsley to handle that snow.

I'd keep the car for trips, and special necessities tho, (unless you are fiscally obligated to sell.) You can live the cycling lifestyle as many days a week as you want, and still have the wheels there when you need them (best of both worlds).

I'm given to the idea of counterbalancing Jules' presence here, and moving to La Belgique...closer to those spritzen waffelletten, and whatnot. Good hot chocolate, decent beer, chill peeps, and set up a Texas Brisket BBQ stand.

I used to bike everywhere. Then I turned 16 and wanted to get laid. Haven't rode one since!

:rofl:

Yikes! I lived two blocks from the biggest club in the area, just a couple kilometers from school and the train station is around the corner. One of the strengths of Dutch infrastructure is the density and proximity of most everything you need. It makes most of the country feel like continuous suburbia, but it's pleasant living.

well canada is the 2nd largest country in the world. in europe u can pretty much walk from one big city to another. lol

Hope you get a good price on that car, cos in the cycling community we addicts have an affliction called n+1 (can't have too many bikes)

And in Ronto (if that's where you are), you're gonna have the perfect excuse to get a Surly Pugsley to handle that snow.

 

I'd keep the car for trips, and special necessities tho, (unless you are fiscally obligated to sell.) You can live the cycling lifestyle as many days a week as you want, and still have the wheels there when you need them (best of both worlds).

 

I'm given to the idea of counterbalancing Jules' presence here, and moving to La Belgique...closer to those spritzen waffelletten, and whatnot. Good hot chocolate, decent beer, chill peeps, and set up a Texas Brisket BBQ stand.

awesome hot chocolate. european hot chocolate is the real shit, not some crap they sell here in packets.

awesome hot chocolate. european hot chocolate is the real shit, not some crap they sell here in packets.

U know it bruddah.

Lived and traveled in various parts of Europe for a while, here and there, and the "bowl" of hot chocolate — made from some kind of freaky divine cocoa powder — with a toasted buttered baguette to dip in it, was the way to go for breakfast.

Man that hot chocolate was the bomb. We'd bring it back to England from France, cos the good stuff wasn't even sold in the UK (even though the UK is so close). it's otherworldly.

Jules, some help here, did you imbibe?

That said, I got my 10 miles biking in, today with some butt kicking hills, so I'm extremely chillaxed. Was going to surf or SUP, but it was small windy and messy out there, so a ride from home for fun was the ticket.

I'm almost at the point where I could do my 26 miles R/T commute, but with the roads here in rush hour you kinda need an armoured car, I mean armored car.

I used to bike everywhere when back in Sweden, like many others there. Unlike the US, Sweden (and most of Europe) weren't built on automobile traffic, road networks etc are more random and often better suited for biking rather than always taking a car. People also travel shorter distances in Sweden, in the US the average person travel much bigger distances on a daily basis without a second thought than ppl in Sweden does.

Another thing is that at least in Sweden cars and using cars is quite a bit more expensive than in the US, not only are the prices slightly higher on cars but the gas prices are about quadruple to the US and getting a driver's license cost 5-10 times as much and is much more involved. In the US the car is MUCH more a mark of freedom and adulthood, in Sweden it's just a tool you MIGHT need when you grow up to an adult but also you might just skip it if not needed due to cost etc.

The car and it's kind of a kind of "right of passage" in the US makes it a HUGE difference compared to Sweden.

In short: Travel by car makes sense in the US and the bike is reserved as a kids vehicle until you can get a car or as pure sports/training equipment, travel by bike as a real effective means of transportation makes much more sense in Sweden/Europe than it does in the US.

U know it bruddah.

 

Lived and traveled in various parts of Europe for a while, here and there, and the "bowl" of hot chocolate — made from some kind of freaky divine cocoa powder — with a toasted buttered baguette to dip in it, was the way to go for breakfast.

 

Man that hot chocolate was the bomb. We'd bring it back to England from France, cos the good stuff wasn't even sold in the UK (even though the UK is so close). it's otherworldly.

 

Jules, some help here, did you imbibe?

Oh, I love chocolate and real chocolate milk. Are you talking about heated C?c?mel? That's the French/Belgian name of the brand. It's Chocomel in The Netherlands. It's semi-skimmed milk, dark sugar, several percent cocoa solids and some extra ingredients. It's a really silky texture and very full chocolate taste, it's amazing.

Recently some local chocolate stores here have been selling chocolate on lollipop sticks that have high cocoa percentages, so instead of eating it like a lollipop, you can stir it in about a quarter of a gallon of hot milk and it melts into chocolate milk out of real chocolate.

The Belgians are insane about their chocolate and rightfully so, because together with the Swiss they make easily the best in the world. Between the Belgian chocolate and beer, they sure know how to enjoy life.

How far of a drive is it for the average Canadian to find a mating partner of their own age though? :rofl:

 

 

 

You need to get yourself a bakfiets. ;)

 

http://i.imgur.com/oHrlZK8.jpg

I love the kid with the double devil horns. Never too early to rock.

Got a flat on my bike this weekend. I have to get around to getting it fixed.

Can't you patch it yourself? Most bike stores sell those little glue kits. You take a bucket of water, put the empty inside tube in it, pump some air through, it will bubble where the hole is, take the kit, put some glue on the problem area and glue a little patch of kevlar fabric on the hole. Fixed for a few bucks.

They're (very) old tires and are worn down. I'm just going to get some new ones.

Ah, yeah, worn down tires are a lost case after a while.

I used to bike everywhere. Then I turned 16 and wanted to get laid. Haven't rode one since!

haha things are a bit different here...cycling can get you laid :p

if i biked anywhere i would have to shower when i got there. no thanks.

Back when I actually had a job and would bike to work, a non-racing pace meant that I wouldn't arrive sweaty. A lot of people equate biking with fitness, but when you just ride for the commute and don't try to win the tour, it's a pretty dry activity, except for in the summer. In that regard, I think I get equally sweaty just standing in the subway though.

Bump with hot chocolate done right. The Belgian way. (Found pic on Reddit, but I've had this.)

http://i.imgur.com/7f3sRGD.jpg