Les Vélos d’Amsterdam

A Saturday in September, Indian Summer as they say. Perfect for running errands, aka going from Westerpark to the Jordaan, crossing the canals, to Spui, around Kloveniersburgwal, Nieuwmarkt, China Town, passing Central Station, re-entering downtown, back to Prinsengracht and passing Anne Frank House, the Jordaan terraces and arriving back in Westerpark.
A proper video tribute to [...]

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Just an Amsterdam native who won't take his city and its cycling extravaganza for granted anymore, thinking these posts might be clues to others, inspiration perhaps, if you will...

A Saturday in September, Indian Summer as they say. Perfect for running errands, aka going from Westerpark to the Jordaan, crossing the canals, to Spui, around Kloveniersburgwal, Nieuwmarkt, China Town, passing Central Station, re-entering downtown, back to Prinsengracht and passing Anne Frank House, the Jordaan terraces and arriving back in Westerpark.

A proper video tribute to cycling in Amsterdam, I’d say.

Remember, you can go to my designated hub ‘Amsterdamize Bicycle TV’ to watch this and all other cycle videos!

I shot this on my Nokia N95.

I used the soundtrack “Les Vélos d’Amsterdam” by Vincent Baguian in my last video, but felt it was good to use it again in this longer setting. I could have picked numerous Dutch songs about Amsterdam or cycling in Amsterdam, but alas, Amsterdamize has an international audience and I wouldn’t go as far as including the infamous song “Bicycle Race” by Queen. First, that song has been used a zillion times before. It would have made it very cheesy. Second, in whatever way this video makes you think I’m speeding (I am not, that’s just my pace), I don’t consider cycling a race. :-p

Lyrics: (translate via Google Translate)

Elle s’enferme à la cave, ou va se cacher dans les rideaux
Elle me dit que c’est grave puis soudain s’effondre en sanglots
Elle s’est vue dans la glace avec ses deux kilos en trop
Elle n’aura plus jamais la place de rentrer dans son nouveau maillot
Alors moi parfois qui voyage et qui lis moins souvent Biba que Géo
D’un coup de rage, j’lui dis “courage ! Et si on s’mettait au vélo ?”

Les vélos d’Amsterdam font des beaux culs aux dames
À celles qui s’déchaînent et pédalent pas celles qui roulent en auto
Les vélos d’Amsterdam font des beaux culs aux dames
À celles qui s’déchaînent et pédalent pour les fleurs et les p’tits oiseaux

Elle ouvre un magazine et se remet à pleurer aussitôt
Parce qu’une mannequine est mieux gaulée qu’elle sur la photo
C’est vrai qu’elle a pas l’air fine emmitouflée dans son vieux manteau
Bouffée par la déprime assise en tailleur contre le frigo
Elle ne parle plus que de régime
Quand je dis “week-end”, elle répond “thalasso”
Elle se bat pour enfiler ses jeans, elle déraille et moi j’pense au vélo

Les vélos d’Amsterdam font des beaux culs aux dames
À celles qui s’déchaînent et pédalent pas celles qui roulent en auto
Les vélos d’Amsterdam font des beaux culs aux dames
À celles qui s’déchaînent et pédalent pour les fleurs et les p’tits oiseaux

Elle balance contre le mur le plus beau modèle de chez Terraillon
On bascule dans la folie pure, elle aspire à la liposuccion
Elle a besoin que j’la rassure, c’est pas facile d’attendre un enfant
Elle a grossi un peu, oui, ça c’est sûr
Mais après on mettra le bébé sur le porte-bagages et en avant

Les vélos d’Amsterdam font des beaux culs aux dames
À celles qui s’déchaînent et pédalent pas celles qui roulent en auto
Les vélos d’Amsterdam font des beaux culs aux dames
À celles qui s’déchaînent et pédalent pour les fleurs et les p’tits oiseaux

C’est vrai, regarde Indurain comme il est gaulé ! Alors ?

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12 Comments

  1. Les added these cyclelicious words on September 7, 2008 | Permalink

    Hey Marc - Another great video. I actually watched it without the audio - which seemed to enhance the video aspect. I like the part through Chinatown. I also found it interesting that your left thumb is always “at the ready”. Cool ending with the contrast between your shiny new bike and the old rusty one against the fence.

    I hope we get to see the same things next Saturday!

  2. Amsterdamize added these cyclelicious words on September 7, 2008 | Permalink

    Hey Les! Thanks, I really enjoyed editing it up. I sort of ’satinized’ the China Town part, pedestrian traffic was cwazy ;). My left thumb, lol, well, that’s deceiving, only ‘at the ready’ in certain busy streets, really, I’d get cramps otherwise…hehe

    Don’t hope, you will! :-p

  3. Sigrid added these cyclelicious words on September 7, 2008 | Permalink

    Very nice. Do people in Amsterdam look at you a little oddly whilst riding around with your camera phone shooting? Who cares if they do - but I was just curious. Keep on filming.

    What a nice camera phone! Do you shoot videos at a certain setting (low resolution)? I have a Canon PowerShot SD750 that I have used for my first few videos (no camera phone I am afraid as work has provided me with likely the oldest BlackBerry model in existence). Anyhow, my camera has an ‘e-mail’ setting for filming that makes more reasonable file sizes, but the quality is not as good. Just curious to hear your technical input.

    What a lovely day for a ride around town that was!

    Happy Autumn cycling,
    -Sigrid

  4. Amsterdamize added these cyclelicious words on September 7, 2008 | Permalink

    Thanks, Sigrid. Some look at me, but indeed, I don’t care :-p.

    The N-series Nokias are great, real media phones. I shoot a lot of my pics with it as well, it’s just so compact and easy to flip out, no need to bring my HD video camera all the time.

    I put mine on max resolution, cause I don’t e-mail videos and if I do decide to upload/post it online on the go, my 3G connection can handle it. The Nokia N phones have a 5 MP camera, when you play it on the phone or computer it does have dvd-like quality at its default size (400×300), but encoding it to flash and playing it online at a greater size (so stretching it) will of course degrade it. Still good enough for its purpose I think.

    Cheers and I hope you’ll have many more too!

  5. Pierre added these cyclelicious words on September 8, 2008 | Permalink

    Great production Marc! My favourite so far! I also agree with the artist of the soundtrack: “Les vélos d’Amsterdam font des beaux culs aux dames”, heheh…
    Pierre

  6. Amsterdamize added these cyclelicious words on September 8, 2008 | Permalink

    Hey Pierre! Thanks and…that song, yeah…lovely isn’t it? :-p

    How’s New Brunswick these days?

  7. Pierre added these cyclelicious words on September 8, 2008 | Permalink

    New Brunswick these days? Well we just survived the remnants of Hurricane Hanna… nothing more than just a half-day of downpour, making my trail rides nice and muddy, just the way I like it. Life is beautiful here!
    Happy Trails!

  8. Amsterdamize added these cyclelicious words on September 8, 2008 | Permalink

    I’m sorry, Pierre, my memory obviously played tricks on me…the cycle world is my oyster, but it does come with potholes :). Glad you endured Hanna in good spirits!

    cheers and happy trails to you too!

  9. RB added these cyclelicious words on September 9, 2008 | Permalink

    Nice video! I liked the flash of colourful grafitti…was that opposite the autonomous centre in Spuistraat?

    I picked up one of those Stecco front racks at HZF when I was in Amsterdam, can’t seem to get anything like them in the UK.

  10. Amsterdamize added these cyclelicious words on September 9, 2008 | Permalink

    thanks, RB! And yes, that was Spuistraat, well spotted! Too bad about the rack, dont know the brand, can check it out if u like.

  11. Erik Visser added these cyclelicious words on September 14, 2008 | Permalink

    lovely feel good video. It so resonates the feeling I get when I ride my bike through Amsterdam. Thanks.

  12. Amsterdamize added these cyclelicious words on September 14, 2008 | Permalink

    Cheers, Erik, coming from you (a vlogger and Amsterdammer) it puts ice on that cake of comments ;)

3 Trackbacks

  1. [...] brings us to Cyclemania’s ‘Bicycles For Humanity’ post from last week. Les talks about how he supports this cause as it sets out “to improve lives by empowering [...]

  2. [...] de Mindcaster publicado em Amsterdamize e também em Bicycle [...]

  3. [...] the feeling I get when I ride my bike through Amsterdam.   • permalink to the original post: Les Vélos d’Amsterdam • made by Mindcaster • website name amsterdamize.com • direct link to the movie • posted on [...]

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