Month: May 2008

There are a lot of bicycles in Holland, in we have one for every man woman and child in the country, that is some 16 million bicycles!.
Bicycle have rights too, that is to say that the bicycle has the right of way every time, unless you are a tram, then the tram is master, but that is the only time that the bicycle has to yield. Think about that for a moment – can you imagine this happening in America, a country that is so pro-car that car owners have been known to successfully sue the pedestrians they have struck for their flesh and blood bodies causing damage to a car. In Holland bikes (fiets) have the right-of-way.
From birth we are brought in close contact with our bikes. They are often part of a cramped city centre apartments furniture, so that baby grows up playing around them. As you will see from the day a Dutch child is born it travels by bike. I can still recall being a tiny tot in the handle bar seat facing my mother and laughing as the wind blew her long hair about her as we sped through the woods of Arnhem. Being older an on the back seat, then graduating to my own bike beside her on the cycle lanes. The bike is simply bred into us.
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Helmets
This is extremely important; do NOT wear a helmet. Three types of people wear a helmet on a bike in Holland;
The English.North
Americans.
The mentally afflicted.
The English and Americans wear helmets because in their worlds common sense no longer rules and people must be safe from their own actions at all times. Also it is a well known fact that when Americans fall off a bike they fall on their heads, why this should be we do not know. God gave us each an ass, he appears to have given many Americans more than one ass and yet they do not use them, you have to wonder why. On the rare occasion a Dutchman comes off their bike we fall on our well padded behinds (and it’s ALWAYS the fault of a German motorist).
Continue reading “Introduction To Dutch Bicycle Culture”

By Jon Hurdle
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – It’s U.S. National Bike to Work Day on Friday and Americans are facing record high gasoline prices, but most commuters will stick to their cars.
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Similarly, the number of people who ride bikes at least six times a year fell to 35.6 million in 2006, the lowest since the survey began in 1984, from 56.3 million in 1995.
Thomas Doyle, vice president of information and research at the association, said the decline was probably due to the aging population, reluctance by parents to allow children to ride bikes and more children using wheeled toys such as scooters and skateboards.
Continue reading “Americans leery of bicycles despite gas price jump”

The Ottawa Citizen –
In every city there are thousands of closet cyclists, people who would love to ride their bikes but don’t dare. They see cycling in the city as something for bike couriers, for the fiendishly fit, for neighbours with nerves of steel.
Our cities are just bursting with pedaling potential, and it’s time to set it loose on the streets. The key lies in building the right kind of infrastructure. Cycling routes designed by cyclists for cyclists.
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What strikes the Canadian visitor is just how ordinary cycling seems to be in the lives of the locals. It is not a big deal to choose to ride somewhere. It does not involve special clothes, helmets, gloves and fancy bikes. Herds of children roll by on their way to school together. Couples head off to work. An older lady rides by with a load of groceries in the rear panniers, and a lapdog in the front basket.
With the right urban planning and infrastructure design, the cities of North America could be just as full of bikes: cleaning the air, cutting greenhouse gas emissions, improving public health, and freeing up some storage space.
– David Chernushenko
Continue reading “How bikes and cars co-exist”