I packed my bike like a mule (that’s what it’s for), got three bottles of water out of the fridge (as it was too humid for comfort), smiled at the absence of wind and I set off at a slow pace (as I usually do), passing through Utrecht and then all the pittoresque towns bordering on and around the river.

Halfway the wind did pick up in a big way and there were some looming clouds, but I was lucky, it never amounted to anything…although at some point I actually wished for that cold shower :).

You understand that I had to stop many times to record bits and pieces for prosperity, not just for this blog, but my own appreciation of this beautiful part of the Netherlands. Sure, I know it well (historically) and I’ve been here before a few times in my life, but as it goes, you take it for granted until you actually go the extra mile…I mean kilometer, and take it all in. I sure did.

Even being a native Dutchie and having lived in Amsterdam for almost half my life, entering the city still was something special. One minute you are all alone in rural ecstacy, the next you find yourself in civilization…on two wheels, that is. Of course.

See all pictures of:

• 55 KM to Amsterdam
• Things That Prove You’ve Arrived In Amsterdam

First vacation sample.

With that said, hope you are all well and on two wheels and I wish you an awesome summer! Ciao!

How’s your part of the world doing?

At some point during work this week I stepped outside my office to have a UV-break. It’s sort of a courtyard with some car parking and two rows of bicycle racks for employees and visitors at the entrance.

Over the last 6 months I’ve gotten to know the bicycles that most of my colleagues use and park there (or inside). Unsurprisingly, they represent a nice cross-section of Dutch urban cycling ‘culture’: shabby ones that seem on the verge of breaking down (for the untrained eye, that is), the omafietsen (granny bikes) with milk crates and panniers, the brand new alumin(i)um city bike, the odd-one-out lowrider, etc etc.

Anyhoo, as I stood there I couldn’t help but notice a very nice little bicycle parked in between the usual suspects. Upon closer examination I quickly realized this one was special. A BSA, at least 45 years old, in almost mint condition, with all the original parts still there, including the tires.

Instantly I wondered who’s bike that would be and my preconceptions led me to one of our volunteers, a retired woman who helps us out every 2 weeks.

Usually I don’t take many pictures of standalone bikes, as you know I’m more about the motion part, but this one was an exception to the rule. I settled for my camera phone, fiddled with the settings a bit and took a few shots up close.

At that same moment, somebody exited the building. It was my part-time colleague Maria, fleeing the office with all kinds of bags, big and small. We talked for a bit and then she slowly moved to the parking area…to unlock the BSA.

“Is that yours?” I asked.
“Yeah. I bought it recently, for 60 Euros, which was a whole lot, so I had to think about it.”
“That’s a very good deal, believe me. It’s absolutely beautiful. Looks like you got it from the original owner. Am I right?”
“Well, I got it from a dealer, but he got it from this old lady, yes.”
“It’s an amazing find and you should consider yourself lucky, really.”
“It is a bit small, so I have to pedal twice as hard, haha!”
“It suits you [smile]!”

“Do you have a minute? I want to get my camera and do this properly.”
“Sure!”

After I returned with my camera Maria continued to talk about how she loves riding (and this bike in particular), but how she hates riding around Dam Square finding her way to her other work, because of what she considers bad bike lanes (not completely segregated) and the thousands of lazy fat pigeons not jumping out of her way. Oh, and of course the scores of tourists on bicycles, going way too slow, wobbling about, not making up their minds on where they’re going.

How she would be complaining about any of those aspects that inevitably come with the territory of living here, you ask? You have to know Maria is not a native, but moved from Spain to the Netherlands for her studies some time ago. So the above tells me she has integrated into Dutch society, without losing her Spanish temperament ;).

As we went along this narrative (she did find out about Amsterdamize a few weeks ago, on which she initially responded: “Why are you blogging about bicycles? I don’t get it.” rofl…), she was comfortable enough seeing me go on my knees to take a few Cycle Chic pictures, while continuing with her preparations to take off. The bigger bag with garments needed to go up front, so she took off the little (original) basket and hung it from the handlebars.

Still time to have her pose with the very practical piece of pantie hose she uses to strap things down in her basket. Luckily she saw the fun in all of this and allowed me to click away until her gracious exit, riding off to the train station.

I could a lot more of these profiles, bicycles really do serve as one of society’s threads. Oh, and isn’t she a beauty? And what do you think of the bicycle? ;-p.

See all of the pictures here.

See the rest of the photo set here.

See all of ‘m here.

The Dutch love their bicycles. As you’ve gathered over the past year, it’s not a ‘Romeo & Juliette-meets-advocacy-meets-rebellion’ kinda love, no, it’s more like a subconscious affection for a mode of transportation that makes a whole lot of sense to this lot of practical and no-nonsense lowlanders, but something they don’t give a second thought.

Segue to the topic at hand [and thanks to Brent Bigler from L.A. for correcting me on the 'Segway'-faux pas]: the love for flowers is equally unambiguous, but it does provide some handy analogies for cycling.

• We have a reputation to maintain
• We like our money’s worth and easy access
• They are a year-round commodity, not just for special occasions

So, if you visit Amsterdam (or any other place in the Netherlands) or you already have fond memories of people riding by with loads of flowers (even when they are actually just bike decorations), take it from me: these people are not showing off, trying to make a statement or look too cute for comfort. It’s just what it is.

In this case, to my good friend Gabemac. Because often you need to help out the ones closest to you. Sort of like Andy’s 1-Mile Solution.

As most Amsterdammers, Gabemac is no stranger to cycling around town, but his traveling and working abroad ‘prevented’ him from actually getting that one simple task done: acquiring a bike. Instead he settled for that other activity that goes around well in this city, walking.

The bicycle in question is a 25-ish-year-old men’s Gazelle, it had long served as my ‘beater’ bike (who am I kidding, it was my regular bike until I bought Spartacus last year, before moving on to what I ride to today).

Don’t let its age delude you. As it goes with many Dutch bikes, it’s built to withstand pesky things like weather, a beating and the progression of time in general, so it’s still in perfect condition. There were a few ‘problems’, though:

• It had been parked and locked to a bike rack outside Gabemac’s house all fall and winter and the Brooks saddle was pretty much done for
• I had lost the keys to both the wheel and chain lock

Finally he’d put his mind to it and decided it was time. So he organized a power saw from the bike shop across the street. In good style, he had an employee do it for him. Why get your hands dirty, right? Watch this video to see how that went down and it proceeded from there.

I threw in a new saddle for good measure, he inflated the tires and off we went to Vondelpark to celebrate his new ride with some drinks and lunch in the sun. After all, passing on a bike is a momentous occasion, a rite of passage. Can you tell how happy he is? :-p

Flickr photo by @ikbendaf

Last Friday morning a 12-year-old boy named Boris was fatally hit by a truck turning left on Marnixstraat, not far from where Lauren got caught in the tram rails.

Reports tell us that Boris had stepped off his bike (on the right side of the road, on the bike lane), waiting to cross the junction (to his left), when the truck driver, who was turning left from the opposite side, overlooked him and ran him over. Boris died shortly after.

Flick photo by @ikbendaf

There are very few fatal incidents in Amsterdam, so this particular one immediately grabbed the public’s attention. Not just that, but more importantly the ire of the people living on that street and the schools close by, people who also knew Boris.

View Larger Map

This long street and its intersections have always been considered ‘tricky’, ‘hazardous’ and often outright dangerous, specially for children and the elderly, as they accommodate so many modes of traffic in a very dense residential neighborhood, without real traffic calming measures.

Here trams, city buses, taxis, cars, mopeds, bicycles, pedestrians all have to share a limited road grid (which is often the case throughout Amsterdam), but the Marnixstraat (and square, where the accident happened) setup has been controversial for years. Actually, one Neighborhood Action Committee member (interviewed by the local TV station AT5) will tell you that this street has caused problems for decades and that they have been trying to have the city change this dangerous situation since 1983, to no avail until 2002, when the city council promised to handle it…

You guessed it, no such thing happened and here we have the result. Sure, political party officials have rushed to the cameras to express their outrage, but nobody will take their pleas seriously until actual improvements are made.

One could argue it’s unfair to judge it this way. Accidents like this one are statistically insignificant compared to the overall. It’s a good and valid point. But let’s zoom in on this: the point here is that of the few fatal bicycle accidents that happen each year, this particular kind is the most dominant one. Just a day earlier a tourist from the US was killed on her rental bike by a cement truck turning the corner. Very unfortunate and again the consequences of a truck driver’s blind spot.

Flickr photo by @ikbendaf

Meanwhile, people of the neighborhood and from elsewhere (also through Twitter), showing support, got together and made a desperate statement by painting a zebra crossing where there should’ve been one in the first place. Just one of many more much needed measures.

Flickr photo by @ikbendaf

Boris’ dad pleaded with the city council to do something about this situation, so others don’t suffer the same consequences and hopefully his death will not be in vain.

Me? I’ve always taken that intersection for granted, knowing my way around it, etc, but it did occur to me it was an ugly duckling compared to Amsterdam’s general level of infrastructure. Now I feel embarrassed about the backdrop of this horrible story and saddened by the thought of how easy (and early on) this kind of risk could have been dealt with.

Let’s see if our Amsterdam elders are really listening this time…

PS: the police officer in the ending of this video is having a discussion with one of the people painting the zebra crossing and ironically points to the fact that ‘they don’t have a permit to do this’, as ‘there are liabilities and building codes involved’. Uhm, yeah, well….doh!!!!

Sigh.

• People
• Bicycles
• Daily routines

The Extraordinary: how beautiful it really is. Don’t take it for granted.

Silver Chic A La Fold, at Utrecht Central Station, waiting to get on the train to Amsterdam.

Below The Line, people on their way home from the office.

Laura, the bike and the girl.

See all of them in the ‘A to B’ photo set.

More Extraordinary Ordinary:

Any day will do. More here.

Photo by Lord Marmalade

And Thomas A. Edison had a keen eye for trends and put it together in a montage.

Henry’s newest form of indoor advertising for Workcycles.

[Update] Speaking of Henry, in his comment he points us to an upgraded, aka bakfiets version:

A parent takes his son to a sports event, for which he apparently needs a lot of stretching.

For some odd reason she briefly stopped smiling when she spotted the lens.

After a brief hiatus, I can now post again about my life on (and off) two wheels. In this case, four wheels, as I was fortunate to be host to Lauren, visiting me before flying off to her destination for the summer, Italy.

No better way to explore (and show off) Amsterdam than by bike. You know that by now. That, and on something that will float on the canals, of course. The weather was typically Dutch on the verge of summer, so hardly the best, but forgiving enough to enjoy the slower paced activities that this city accommodates.

Lauren blended in and stood out at the same time, graciously and more Cycle Chic that most Dutch women, weaving through traffic, enjoying her surroundings and having a giggle or two with all those Dutchies riding circles around her ;).

Suffice to say, we had a great time…then the unexpected happened:

Well I went to the left to pass a biker and all of a sudden I became parallel with the tram lines and then my wheel went right into the line…as it was all going down and I was going down for that matter a million things were going through my mind like “YOU KNOW YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO STAY AWAY FROM THE TRAM LINE!” “F*ck I am in foreign country and about to have an accident”, “please don’t let a car hit me”, oh my goodness my parents are going to be so worried” and finally….”this is mortifying!!!!”

Yes, very unlucky. However, you’ll find that after a medical checkup she didn’t let the bruises dampen her spirits. In true form and with a great sense for reality, she came to grips with it and moved on.

She could easily have been Dutch :).

“Best Mode”

“1+1 Own The Lane”

“Leave Your Hat On”

More here.

Staying in my hometown Houten (Bicycle Town 2008) for the weekend, I went for a ride with the family dog, Beau.

We stopped for ice cream, for a mandatory tennis ball toss (she’s neurotic that way) and just generally enjoyed the nice weather and the view from the bicycle path(s). You’ll see us ride through the main ‘green zone’ that cuts through town, turn off it here and there, with me trying to have Beau (that sweet little bitch ;)) look as cute as possible. Usually, she’s very high-strung, but for some reason she was totally at ease on two wheels. My family has a long tradition with dog-in-a-box, with bigger ones than Jack Russels.

PS: I shot this with my Nokia N95 and editing this up I did away with the original sound (too much wind), but for some odd reason you’ll hear that come back here and there, and I can’t fix it. Hence, my apologies :).

Soundtrack: “L’indifference” by Raisa (permission)

One particular part caught my eye: “As Mapes points out, when more women begin riding, that will signal a big change in attitude, which will prompt further changes in the direction of safety and elegance. I can ride till my legs are sore and it won’t make riding any cooler, but when attractive women are seen sitting upright going about their city business on bikes day and night, the crowds will surely follow.”

True, very true. And so I replied to Mark:

@77A indeed, ‘when more women begin riding’, David and Mapes would appreciate this video :) http://bit.ly/ClqO2

And he re-tweeted it for his followers…and so the word spreads. Which brings us back to what I originally posted :).

So what is Charleston Cycle Chic?
It’s a movement to move, an expression of style, and a show of grace. It’s a celebration of life and the wind in your hair. It’s about getting out of your car and taking back the bike. (And looking fabulous while doing it.)
charlestoncyclechic.com
Video by Dustin Ryan

Sounds good and familiar to me ;).

“Another < / office >“

“Our JCDecaux”

“Popular Mechanics”

“Toe Panda”

A few more here…

I’m working on this fun little branding campaign consisting of just online videos, I thought I’d share one of my favorites with you, as I think you’ll particularly appreciate the ending…

I took home many things from my trip to Bilbao, including video footage, lots of it.

Part 1 takes us a bit back to the moment when Gabemac and I got on the hotel/cruiser bikes to head for the Guggenheim Museum. Let’s just say this is the really mellow first chapter…:)

Last Friday I woke up to a sunny and vibrant Amsterdam, went shopping and dressed up (Tenue de Ville) to attend a wedding. Yeah, actual ‘chic’.

Maybe it had something to do with the night before, but all the people on bikes I encountered on Saturday were kool kats to me.

Sunday was about chilling out. Which oddly started with walking past a freakishly dead 30 meter high tree in Vondelpark, apparently occupied/devoured by the ‘Thaumetopoeidae’ caterpillars. Five minutes later I had a flashback to last summer as I walked in the path of the ongoing Mama Bakfiets Race. I happened to be meeting up with Antonio Rosell from Minneapolis at the start/finish line of that, so I had a few minutes to observe and compare. Let’s just say this year’s version annoyed me.

Antonio’s family went for a stroll and he and I settled at Het Blauwe Theehuis to talk bike culture/infrastructure over beers, then he called Ronald Onderwater (the brain behind the tandemtransporter) to join us. Great guys, very nice conversation, perfect.

On that note, I can report that the Dutch Consulate in NYC swung by again, they’re going to arrange a photo exhibition of my pictures in August. Let’s see if I can swing by then.

Photo by Peter Gerdes

Lady In Red

Going the last 100 meters I crossed one of those alleys. If you don’t live here you wouldn’t give it a second thought (as there are so many of them), but this one is actually a small but important connection in between a wide artery downtown and the four main canals that embrace the city center. Well, if you are on foot or going about by bicycle, that is.

For me it was a good start of a productive morning (and I didn’t pass up on what I encountered in the afternoon, obviously).

I work in Utrecht, 50 km south of Amsterdam. On my route to and from the office I pass a roundabout. One with a setup that you’ll find all over the Netherlands, the scenes you’ll find there are pretty universal…uhm, quintessentially Dutch as well.

Before heading on home, I stopped at the corner of one exit to capture 10 minutes of rush hour. Well, rush…just the pace of people going home, after work, school, shopping, etc. All at peace with other modes of traffic, because that’s just what it is. All Dutch cycle, some less, some more, but we collectively give it the highest priority.

You don’t have to take my word for it, really. Just browse through a few expat blogs, talking about their (cycle) life here, you’ll find the most interesting takes on this particular topic people take for granted here:

One woman that I saw in Hilversum will always stay in my mind. She was cycling uphill through the Beatrix Tunnel near our home. This woman must have been around 85 years old. Her three Albert Heijn blue and white shopping bags were slung over one handlebar, and in her other hand she held an enormous cone of fries with mayo from Smullers. She was literally cycling uphill, one-handed, with a heavy load on her bike. I was so impressed by her bike-riding skills, that I always tell this story to Dutch friends who simply smile and say “Of course! Bike riding is like walking to us!”

It’s a no-brainer if you take a closer look.

Mikael

After four days of talking bike culture at the international and very popular Velocity 2009 conference in Brussels (a city that desperately needs to do an infrastructure overhaul, to say the least), it was pretty clear he needed a fix.

No, that substance was not included, we left it to the accord of the sheer intoxicating beauty of hundreds of thousands of people on bicycles moving about in the city.

Henry from Workcycles provided his ride, I assumed the role of a non-structured tour guide and we used the limited amount of time as well as we could.

Of course we whipped out our photo cameras and I recorded a little video for prosperity with my mobile (warning: crappy quality).

From my recently dug up and digitized photo archives.

More…

Even if you come 2nd place.

More…

More…

More…

More Humanoids.

It’s my fault. I could have taken it all down a notch and serve you with more consistency. In essence, I wish I could have done more of this:

But life and work got in the way. And why are there only 24 hours in a day?!?

Forecast for the weekend: pictures, lots of pictures, from which I’ll choose one to post on Amsterdamize. That last bit is sort of a prelude to upcoming changes, explained by the following: I’ve found a new, fresher template for this site. I can hear some of you now: “Nooooo, why? I like it this way!”. Thing is: I got inspired in Bilbao, thought a lot about the direction I want to be moving in (an itch I’ve been meaning to scratch for quite a while now).

I’m moving away from categories, from editorializing and instead I’ll be zooming in on ‘bicycles/cycling as art’. Not getting all artsy-fartsy here, but I want to focus on the beauty of the motion, the people. The intrinsic value of it all, if you will. And the only way for me to accomplish that is to put more energy, more thought into photography and my videos. I want them to speak louder. Or whisper. Or suggest. Or inspire to think. Offer open and closed endings, room for interpretation. Pictures, moving or not, should be telling the story, not me.

The first step is that I’ll change the site’s look, the setup. This means that in the next few days/weeks you’ll see awkward morphing transpiring, as it will also take me quite some time to change the content of existing posts to fit the new template.

Hopefully you’ll stay tuned for the re-launch and stick around for more. You’ve all been awesome since I started this. Cheers.

It’s good to be/feel King for a day.

More…

Too bad some this freakish thing was in the back of everyone’s mind. Here’s a perspective on it you just have to read. Just hope it won’t come true.

Finally, here’s the follow up I promised on the NY400 celebrations, a bit more civilized :-p.

Just a little weird to see this fella get on a Dutch bike…I didn’t know photo ops could be so risky. :-p

During my presentation (which I will put online and link to very shortly), a bizarre thing happened. On the big screen I flipped to a few of my bicycle pics, when I suddenly heard my co-panelist Pim Betist from Sellaband utter: “But that’s my ex-girlfriend!” …. No, I didn’t know and I can’t calculate the odds of picking just that one out of 5500 samples. Then it got even weirder…as Gabemac said: “And that’s my roommate’s sister!” Funny as hell.

Why you should go to Bilbao: it is quaint and beautiful, its people are outgoing and friendly, the food is excellent, the local cider a challenge and the general vibe is a must.

Oh, and the Guggenheim is simply awe-inspiring. The exhibitions and installations are also top notch.

PS: the strict ‘no cameras’ rules are there to be broken:

The cycling? I loved it. Regardless of the fact that there are hardly any means to speak of…if it wasn’t for that bike lane leading towards the Guggenheim (starting out of the blue at a kiosk, stopping outside an office building) and the one alongside the river across from the Museum.

Other than that, I led my friends on tram tracks (yay for the Amsterdam experience), sidewalks (only when really needed), but we mostly shared the road, making it clear to those fellow human beings that we knew what we were doing.

The hotel’s Schwinn city cruisers were crappy but sufficient, I was just glad to be able to head out and clear my head each day, dragging along a few of my co-conspirators (one of them being a Dutch expat from Madrid who thanked me for doing so).

And you can feel King of the Road, just for the fact that you won’t encounter many others on a bicycle (I counted six in just over 3 days).

On a final note: don’t worry about whatever people say about Spanish temperament on four wheels, I had them eating out of my hand within minutes (stay tuned for the video), some even honked to cheer us on (not kidding).

It will take me some time to get everything sorted for my ‘report’ on my long weekend in Bilbao (which, btw, was just awesome). Leave it to friends to hook me up with a thing of beauty to tie you and me over until that post.

Amy & Daan created this video as a birthday card for their friend Lucy.

Having a much needed coffee at Schiphol Airport, waiting to board that plane to Bilbao, I have some time to recap this week.

I experienced a flat for the first time in years. Must have been quite a malicious piece of litter that was able to get through my kevlar tire, as it caused one spectacular blow out. No, I didn’t check, I did what most people here do, walked straight to one of the many bike shops in town, in this case near my office. The mechanic wasn’t sure he could manage to have it ready at the end of the afternoon, so he handed me a loaner (nothing special, hell, car dealerships do it, too), oddly enough (read on to find out why) a Batavus Personal Bike for the day, and/or the next (after he’d taken off the two child seats). As expected, the call came in shortly after, only two hours later, they allowed me to reunite with Mr Freight. You’d almost get sentimental about it :-p.

Last week’s feature of my bicycle photos in The New York Times provided an incentive for the good folks at the Dutch Consulate in New York City to contact me and ask the same favor, to be used for their NY400 site, celebrating the 400 years of friendship between The Netherlands and the US. Less than an hour and a few suggestions later it was off to a good start.

So, as I’m sitting here, I chuckle at the irony of how things have been coming together this last week. And it offered me a proper pay-off for my presentation about Amsterdamize tomorrow. You can watch it live online, if you have the time.

I’m still just a guy on a bike, ok? :)

I had fun the other day. Then, I bump into this:

Can you feel the love, man?

The Dutch Cyclists Union’s weblog recently posted about Amsterdamize, saying it’s popularity is definite proof that our cycle ways are a genuine ‘export item’.

At first I was surprised that they weren’t already convinced of that, but then I realized my mistake. Consider the perspective: a well established and recognized national cycling organization pushing for cycling improvements in a country with a rich cycling history, (way) more bicycles than people and almost as many kilometers of segregated bicycle infrastructure as highway asphalt.

‘Pirates Are Hot These Days’

So I get it, when you’re knee-deep and have your head buried in all that policy stuff, someone has to come along and have you snap out of it, smell the roses ;).

On the export part: I don’t think other countries should aspire to copy/paste everything we do here (these days nobody’s patient enough for that, considering it took us decades to bring it back up to desirable levels), but I am convinced of one thing…people will opt for change when they like what they see. Or let’s just call it the ‘follow-the-herd-effect’.

‘Yet Again’

‘Beauty & The Beast Together Forever’

‘Oe La La’

‘Do It Yourself’

‘Many Decisive Moments’

‘This Big@!’

‘All Done’

‘Pack’

‘Any Boots Will Do’

See all of these commodities here and here. They’re free of charge.

Today was a special day in the world of Cycle Chic [which, for once and for all, means: 'normal people riding normal bikes in their normal clothes]. The New York Times caught on to it. In the Style section. I think you know where this is heading :)…

BikeSocial says:

“Leave it to New Yorkers to make a simple solution as needlessly complex and expensive as possible. I’m trying to wrap my mind around the concept of this sartorial gentleman actually appearing on a bike on a Manhattan street on a typical July day (99 degrees, 99% humidity) or a typical December day (29 degrees, 50 mph wind gusts, sleet) at, say, noon on Wednesday. How many minutes (seconds?) do you think it would take for this outfit to become a rumpled, stained, sweat-soaked disaster?

Finally the NYT has discovered cycling. God help the guy who wants to beat around town on a scratched up old mountain bike. Yes, millions of Dutch people ride Dutch bikes, but 99% of the bikes you see on the street in Holland, LIVE on the street 24/7 where they are chained to something immovable. They become grimy, rusty work bikes, not gleaming showpieces.”
Good, valid points, but uhm, grimy, rusty…nah, not so much. Unless you’re talking about our secondary, beater bikes.

Streetsblog commenters are practically foaming at the mouth:

Lee: “The NYT has spoken. Dutch bikes are bikes for regular adults. Fixies, road bikes, and others are toys for 8 year olds. I’m not sure at what point the media started grading cyclists by their choice of bike - but we’re certainly there now.”
Nobody said that, Lee, but in general: I think you’re waking up to the problems of ‘bike cultures’ in the US.

Stacy: “Can you imagine carrying a Dutch step-through up and down the subway stairs? Chic or not, I think I’ll stick with my aluminum diamond frame, thank you very much.”
Aside from the fact that I’ve seen regular women do this, I think there are simple solutions for that. I know, because I’ve seen them. Yeah, an ‘infrastructure’ thing.

Eric: “”In short, you quickly understand why the Dutch don’t wear helmets….”

A Dutchman or woman in NYC will quickly adopt a helmet, given a taste of local road conditions.”
Uhm, I know I and a few other Dutch expats didn’t when I lived in NYC in 1992/1993, hardly ‘the good ol’ days’ :). But I’m NOT getting myself into the h-debate.

Maura Judkis of US News really gets it:

“New recession “trend”: Riding a bike to work can be stylish.

Well, yeah. This is because many people who ride a bike to work do so in their normal clothes, which also happen to be stylish.”
Here’s why she gets it:
“There are numerous blogs devoted to bike fashion with editors who have devoted themselves to becoming the Sartorialist of the two-wheeled set. I enjoy The Chic Cyclist, who chronicles Bostonian bikers, and Copenhagen Cycle Chic, from the world capital of bike fashion.”

Carolyn of Serendipity And Spark gets quite excited:

“I am really digging this story from the ny times style section. essentially the article is all about the dutch bike and can new york transform into a bike loving city (not just for messengers).

The pictures are really incredible from the slideshow. Even if you just look at those, they make me want to go out and buy Alan a bike right now.”

Alright, I think you get the picture.

Amsterdamize reader and fellow bicycle blogger Charlotte from Chiccyclist takes it at face value:

“I have seen some evidence that bike culture can be it’s own worst enemy, with assumptions about riders, etc. I hope the article is right and maybe “the kiss of fashion may help people embrace the idea of a more practical bike”… Come on everyone, let’s show them!”

Fashion editor David Colman basically ventured into dangerous territory by covering both angles. On one he really knows his stuff, the other he’s just discovering. Little does he know about the strong sentiments amongst his cycling fellow countrymen and -women. All this considered, I think he did a good job. None of us like to be labeled, because we all think we’re special. Well, guess what, David is in the labeling business, so to speak. Dutch bikes and fashion, yeah, they actually mix really well…ha!

Me? I guess I can say I understand everyone’s point of view, whether I agree with them or not. There’s already much said and written about what’s lacking for everyday cycling in the English speaking parts of the world (as David Hembrow would say).

I’m just pretty happy with how my photos got featured in the world of mainstream media :-p.

A video contribution related to this post from Gabemac:

The Vondelpark is where we go to listen to music, rides bikes, and be Amsterdammers. It is part of the culture here. Many times the spring comes, easter time, time for friends and family. The video is from when I went one day with my friends and surrogate family Marc, GabeB, Stephan, Kim and Suze to the park. There is nothing like it. In the video we see the typical Dutch lifestyle with a variety of bikes zooming around, some stopping to listen to the music. It is so common to hear live music in the park. Like GabeB in an upcoming video. And the song is perfect. A version of An Englishman In New York.

More….

It being a completely lazy and laid back Easter weekend, I figured now’s the time to follow up on some extremely nice blog contributions.

Not just my faithful visitors, viewers and co-Cycle Chic Maniacs, but more and more of my friends are getting infected with Amsterdamizeritus. Lucky for me, even more so when they travel abroad.

You’ve already seen quite a few contributions from my buddy Gabemac. His latest are from Tel Aviv, Israel. Lots of cycling, pretty good infrastructure for people to do so, but he agrees with me when I say the mountain bike seems to be the preferred mode.

Another friend, Sabine from Munich, who I’ve hosted on a cycle tour of Amsterdam recently, came back from her vacation in Vietnam and Cambodia with a new perspective. Suffice to say, the bicycle perspective. She put them all in one set for our viewing pleasure.

Last but not least, my buddy Bicyclemark is in Istanbul right now and this morning he sent me a few nice images from the Asian side of town, one of them true to Cycle Chic form:

I love it when a plan comes together :-p. Thanks guys!

The most popular and persistent subject in those jokes is the bicycle. For instance, during the European Championships in Germany in 1988, we all laughed hard at the banners the Dutch fans held up in the stadium, saying ‘Grandpa, we found your bicycle!’

I’m sure you’ve now figured out where that found its origin. If not, you might want to read this:

German soldier returns Dutch bike

German troops fleeing the Netherlands steal bicycles from Dutch civilians

The money will go to charity if the Dutch Church cannot trace the true owner of the bike.

I’d like to say that with this we can finally have closure :-p.

Best. Day. Ever. Like skipping spring and leaping right into summer. What’s a bicycle blogger to do…having that day off?

Yeah, didn’t mind doing this at all :-p.

See all of ‘m here.

I’m a big fan of James Howard Kunstler, a well-known commentator on urban planning, societal issues and beyond. Author of The Geography of Nowhere, The Long Emergency (in which he deals with the challenges posed by the coming permanent global oil crisis, climate change, and other “converging catastrophes of the 21st Century.”) and other books, he’s notorious for his honest, edgy, blunt and often funny views on how we construct the world around us (and what we did wrong).

I think this video of him talking at TED 2004 will help you get a better idea of where James is coming from:

The point of my post: James also has a podcast, the Kunstlercast, hosted by Duncan Crary, which I’ve been listening to from the very beginning. It’s very, very good, so if you feel you and I have something in common, I expect you to subscribe (iTunes) to it :). Today I was extra excited to hear them discuss the use of bicycles. Enjoy:

I know what some of you are thinking (while you’re still suffering on way or another, Les, Wilma), but no matter how much ‘colder’ or ‘hillier’ your habitat may be, there’s something to be said about the persistence of everyday cycling in this puny little country of ours. Oh yes, of course, I have said plenty :).

My last post made it pretty clear, we’ve definitely said goodbye to winter (knock on wood). So when I found out today I was one of the 10 EcoVelo photo contest winners, I considered it a fitting closure, on a high :-p. Of the four pictures I had sent in, the jury picked the one below:

I got to pick one of the prizes and I chose the Japanese brass bell. Nice and heavy :).

You should definitely go have a look at all the entries (over 400 of them), many from the US, but also quite a few from elsewhere. They’re absolutely beautiful.

Now, ending on that high, it would be silly to suggest the coming months will be boring, less interesting. So let me just say: “Well, hello there!”

A reminder: I’ll be in Bilbao, Spain from April 23-26, so at last an opportunity to update the Amsterdamize travel category.

Yesterday I got a call from a friend who said (and apparently he had told me before) “Tomorrow’s the day, Marc.” Me: “What do you mean?” “You need to get the first picture of a bare legged woman on a bike. You got a reputation to uphold.”

‘Rokjesdag’ means ‘Skirts Day’. Or ‘Short Skirts Day’. Most literally, ‘Little Short Skirts Day’. This is a once proclaimed and poetically described day by a Dutch writer. It’s the day when women en masse get rid of their pantyhoses or tights and leave the house with bare legs.

Trying not to sound redundant, but today it really was that day. A fact well forecast that had been buzzing around all week (which wasn’t bad either, as you’ve been reading about.

So, I ventured out this afternoon, moving my way from one terrace to the other and aim my lens while comfortably enjoying a couple of beers with my friend Gabemac. Yes, I haven’t gotten up once, you could call it ‘arm chair lazy ass shootin”.

Anyhoo, I took a lot of pictures, but I have to say, not every woman on a bicycle either got the message or found the morning too chilly for comfort. Still, the second best was good enough.

See the rest of the pictures here. And have a great weekend!

Last Tuesday I had a meeting in downtown Utrecht. It was a very cold and crisp morning, no wind and very sunny. Frozen dew and the smell of spring. And the forecast of a quite warm afternoon. Reason enough to not go straight into the office, but linger a bit and soak it up, relish it, even if it was for only 5 minutes. That, and maintaining a commitment to this blog :).

Coming through, Mr Van Man.

This gentleman cheated a bit at the junction.

Rückenfiguren.

Gotta love those audiophonic ear warmers.

You (my loyal readers/viewers) will remember my trip to Copenhagen in November last year. Mikael and I shot quite a few videos, go see this to refresh your memory.

Since then there was one real loose end…the video of one of Mikael’s life long dreams: racing a real Amsterdammer.

Well, you guessed it, he finally got to edit it and put it up. I then inserted parts of my own footage, to cover all angles, so here’s my Redux of:

The World’s First Copenhagen Invitational Slow Bicycle Race. At the Slowodrome on the Copenhagen Harbour.

PS: As a guest, I did the right thing…

Dutch bicycle manufacturer Batavus is giving 200 bright orange bicycles to New York as a birthday present. In 1609, the first trading post was set up by the Dutch East India Company on the island of Manhattan. It was the beginning of 400 years of cultural, political and economic cooperation between the Netherlands and America.

The bikes will be shipped from Rotterdam and will be used during the festivities to mark New York’s 400th anniversary. Between May and November, they will be used for several events, including the opening of a cycle bridge over the Hudson river and a cycle path around the city. It’s hoped dignitaries such as President Barack Obama, Dutch Prince Willem Alexander and Princess Maxima will try a “Dutch ride” on the traditional style bikes. Afterwards they will be passed on to the city’s run-down neighbourhoods to be used in community projects, including cycling proficiency exams for children.

Riding bikes around the city of New York is usually left to the daredevils. Bicycles are certainly not a common mode of transport for New Yorkers. Wearing helmets is obligatory. To encourage New Yorkers to get on their bikes, the shipment has been made extra strong and extra safe.

Lovely. However, I have two questions:

• Why didn’t Batavus go for the symbolic 400 bicycles? You know, before you know it people start yapping about how ‘Dutch’ the Dutch really are. I consider this an embarrassing PR faux-pas. REALLY, Batavus, you’re going to show up with half a birthday cake?
• I want to know which bike model they picked for this special treat. Will they be bold and pass up on the all the ‘modern’ stuff and go with heritage, of which only the cheap Batavus Favoriet and Old Dutch are left? Or is it just about the gimmicky color, sprayed on a bunch of boring ‘city hybrids’, or whatever they’re called?

I won’t hold my breath, let history run its course. Then I’ll see if it’s worth following up on.

What’s a Panda got to do with anything, you ask? To quote the Flickr Panda Portraits Group:

Well, ya see, there’s this rad chick who goes by the name faster panda kill kill. She takes rad self-portraits while riding her bike. They are so rad, in fact, that a group was formed to record similar self-portraits cuz, really, just about anyone who has a camera and rides bikes also takes these self-portraits.

In this category you’ve seen several frontal Panda pictures of me (trying not to overdo it), this one being the shadow-boxing kind. It couldn’t be any easier. You’re free to come up with your own, obviously, so when am I going to see yours? :-p