Comments on: The Dutch and their bicycles

By: Rachel Heller

Rachel Heller — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 13:22:36 +0000

Ah, I see. I haven’t been to North America in four years, but I hear that cycling is gaining ground. I’m curious particularly to see New York City. It strikes me as perfect for encouraging cycling: it’s flat, for the most part, and it’s much too expensive to keep a car there anyway. When we lived in San Francisco back in the 90’s, bicycling was terrifying; drivers simply ignored bikes, which had to ride between the parked cars and the driving lanes. That meant a constant danger of people in parked cars opening their driver side doors without looking first…

By: nothingbythebook

nothingbythebook — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 00:25:03 +0000

I can’t spell: http://www.copenhagenize.com/ and we’ve got a local version. I don’t think bikes will ever become as ubiquitous here as in Copenhagen — the distances are vast, and did I mention the weather sucks 9 months of the year? — but we’ve really come a long way. And if we can achieve it here, it’s possible in any North American city. (Bike/car-free travel are one of my hobby horses. Forgive me.)

By: Rachel Heller

Rachel Heller — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 16:13:04 +0000

In reply to nothingbythebook.

Thanks for the post! What is Coppenhanize? Is that related to Copenhagen? I can imagine it wouldn’t catch on so easily where it’s both hilly and cold! I’m impressed that you manage that bakfiets with all the kids: I bet they love it though! They should put a bike route inside that big mall there!

Regards,
Rachel

By: nothingbythebook

nothingbythebook — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 15:15:43 +0000

Hi, Rachel, popping in to follow up on our Twitter exchange, reading through your posts. Special fondness for this one–I’m in hilly, hilly, sprawling Calgary, Alberta, but we’ve got a huge “Coppenhanize” bike movement happening here, and a thriving movement to make our car-built city bike friendly. Me, I own an awesome bakfiet, in which I’ve carted 140 lbs of kids (3 of ’em–room for 4), a dog, and a day’s worth of food. Its only drawback is that it is indeed Dutch-built, which means heavy as hell and really really tough to bike up our hills. (But you ought to see my quads as a result!)

Our winters here are very long and roads treacherous, and while there are all-season cyclists, I am not one of them. So currently, looking at the foot of snow outside my window, I’m humming, “I want to ride my bike, I want to ride my bike” and counting the days until the next melt.

Look forward to reading more of you.

“Jane”

By: Rachel Heller

Rachel Heller — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 19:14:26 +0000

In reply to Absence of Alternatives. Yes, you should definitely rent a bike there. It's lovely to bike along next to the canals, but watch out for all the other riders (and trams and cars and pedestrians)! Why are the old-style bikes so hard to find there?

By: Absence of Alternatives

Absence of Alternatives — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 17:39:31 +0000

Glad to walk into your blog today as we are going to be in Amsterdam this March and I was told to be prepared to ride a bike while there. 🙂 Very happy to learn that the old style bikes are popular there as that’s the type I like. It’s hard to find them here in the US. I can never get used to the ones here: I am always worried about hitting that bar when I brake!