Fietsers

We finally worked up the courage to join the millions of Dutchies who bike.

That may sound silly — riding a bike is something that every one learns at the age of five — but it is so pervasive here that I felt a little nervous about getting in the way of the masses zooming around on two wheels.

And it’s a bit humbling to have Dutch oma’s (grandmothers) — or 9-year-olds — zipping past me as I try to reacquire the coordination to not wobble all over the bike paths.

The Netherlands is considered one of the top (if not the best) country for cycling, but it didn’t always used to be this way. In the 1960s, as many as 2,000 pedestrians — including hundreds of children — were dying every year on Dutch streets as the country became car-centric in the years following World War II.

In the early 1970s, the Dutch started demonstrating for safer streets. Stop de kindermoord — stop the child murder, read the signs. And they convinced the government to start rethinking how streets they are designed.

It didn’t happen overnight. But the government knew it had to repave streets every 8 to 10 years and took that opportunity to make changes. (Anytime people in America moan that it’s impossible do there, I remind them these streets are going to be updated anyway.) And the Dutch study what works and what doesn’t work and keep making adjustments. There’s a big utility project going on two streets over for the next few months and they are using that work to make bike path improvements while they have the street torn up.

This is a nice east-west protected path that I can take to Clingendaal Park:

At intersections, cyclists get their own crossing signal — you wave your hand over the part on the top and that causes the light to change:

And we get our own stoplights:

Even when I need to use a side street or a painted path (unprotected) on a busier street, I don’t really feel that nervous about it. I think that’s partly because the cars are smaller, they travel slower in the city, and drivers (generally) have the mindset that pedestrians and cyclists take priority. I’ve only seen one accident in nine months and that was when a small girl draped her bag over the front handle bar and it got caught in the front wheel. (She scraped a knee but was fine.)

If something is less than 10 minutes walk, I still find myself walking instead of taking my bike. And I don’t have a basket yet so grocery store runs are still on foot.

But for trips that are longer, like to the pet food store (25 minutes on foot), or the dentist (15 minutes) or our favorite pizza place (30 minutes) the bike comes in very handy. I have had several dentist appointments this week and I could wait until the last minute and then zip over on my bike in 5 minutes.

For the moment, we are leasing our bikes through Swapfiets. The 3 speed you see above is about 20 euros per month. I suspect will have them for six months and then figure out whether we want to buy — maybe a used e-bike — or keep leasing.

In the meantime, I’ll keep testing solutions to put on the bike seat after a rainstorm. As Paul Hollywood from The Great British Baking Show would say: You don’t want a soggy bottom : )