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Amsterdamize
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09.14.2009
Dublin’s Schemin’ Wheels
Categories: Amsterdamize, Photos

Worn

Not too long ago I had the pleasure of hosting some good people from abroad. This happens quite often, something I really enjoy. I mean, what’s not to like about showing people around in your home town and having even the smallest impact on how they experience cycling in the Netherlands. Well, in this case ‘hosting’ is a big word, as I was asked to participate in a cycling documentary for Dublin Community TV.

Producer Rob Carr explained it all in his request:

The TV Series is 3 part documentary on cycling in Dublin. The main premise of the series will be to look at how a cycling culture can be developed in Dublin and what that might look like. To that end, one programme will be a kind of travelogue where we go on a journey from Dublin to Amsterdam via London by bike, ferry and train. We will follow Ciaran Fallon (the new Cycling Officer at Dublin City Council) on his journey as he meets various people involved in the cycling cultures of London and Amsterdam to see what is happening from a cycling perspective in those cities and what Dublin can learn from them. We are of course hoping you will be one of these people…

Others we are hoping top interview are Ria Hilhorst, Directorate of Infrastructure at City of Amsterdam and Theo Zeegers from Fietersbond.

In Amsterdam we will look at the infrastructure – the bike lanes and the integration with public transport. We also hope to highlight the notion of the bike as a normal, easy, fashionable (of course), everyday means of transport (the idea that one just cycles in their everyday clothes is still a hard thing to get across to people in Ireland). The majority in Dublin do not yet view cycling in this way although there is a hint that things are starting to change (Ciaran Fallon, the Dublin city Cycling officer, is a very progressive guy who sees an Amsterdam type cycling culture as the way to go for Dublin). We also want to examine the issue from a cultural aspect. We in Ireland seem to have a very American attitude towards cars – hence making our cities very car dependent while in Amsterdam it seems to me that the culture has a better understanding of shared space for pedestrians, cars and bikes and that has lead to a more liveable city – something very positive to highlight in our documentary.

As a long time follower of your blog it would be great if we could interview you for the documentary.

Irish TV Goes Dutch

Hurrying back to continue inside..

Hurrying back to continue inside..

After work I hurried (I think I’ve never cycled this fast before, I actually sweated…) to our rendez-vous on Nieuwmarket, shook hands and the TV crew, Ciaran Fallon and I went on our way. In part it was to be an interview on wheels. The cameraman positioned in a rental bakfiets, the audio technician steering it and Ciaran had me chat up a storm (quite literally, as very dark clouds moved in and blanketed the city).

Almost naturally our conversation went from the obvious to the more intrinsic/historical aspects of Dutch bicycle ‘culture’, leading to some important myth busting (not towards Ciaran, but the general perception abroad):

1970's Amsterdam Cycle Jive

Just as we arrived at one of Amsterdam’s pivotal ‘infra grids’, the rain forced us inside for the second leg of the interview, which was equally fun and interesting. We wrapped it all up with a few lagers (the Irish and Dutch also have so much in common) and an invite to Dublin was born.

Typically enough, this morning a friend of mine from Dublin sent me this news article, ‘Wheels start turning as city gets saddled up’, covering the launch of the Dublinbikes bike sharing program.



Photograph: Bryan O’Brien

‘Ugh’ was my first response to the article’s first paragraph’s and main focus on the absence of helmets, a smile came next. Somebody enlightened at Dublin City Hall has clearly injected some sanity into the decision making process…I think it’s someone I recently met. :)

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to unlock Mr Freight as I’m meeting up again with cycle trotter Anthony from Memphis, Tennessee.

Anthony Siracusa from Memphis

  • Wow, you could replace "Dublin" with "Miami" in the paragraph about how the Irish see cycling and it would still be 100% correct. Last March, during one of our Bike Miami Days ciclovia events, we had the Dutch Embassy sponsor it (for the Queen's birthday) and aside from being arguably the most successful Bike Miami event to date, it was a chance for folks from the Netherlands and Miami's cycling program advocates to talk and exchange ideas on how to better make Miami into a cycling eden (cycling nirvana is still a bit's away, but who knows).

    I'd love to get my hands on this documentary once it's released; I've a feeling it will resonate just as true as that paragraph for my city.
  • Miami Beach is also supposed to be getting a new bike share program soon, though what does "soon" mean is up for debate. I know at least that the project is budgeted for in the new proposed City Budget for Fiscal Year 2009-2010. We'll see.
  • lehommeauvelo
    I like what was said about Helmet use,I am glad to see someone was using their Head for once when Talking about this and not giving in to the Hysteria Spread by the Helmet Manufacturers.
    We have a Return of Summer for awhile,the Weather People say it will last about 10 Days.So I was not wasting it and going on Spins on my Bike out by Clontarf to Howth on the off Road Coastal Cycleway every Day. So this Sunday I decided to go to Dun Leary/ Dunlaoghaire and Dalky on the other Side of the Bay as a Change. Loads of People Cycling now in Dublin and Yesterday was no Exception,with the Sun Shining I imagined I was on the Cote D'Azure it was so Nice. I seen two of those Dublin Vélib Bikes in Dun Leary at the Pavillons Shopping Centre they look Great very much like the ones in Paris.

    Dublin City Council is putting in a New Cycle Way Next Year from Rathmines Road along the Grand Canal then over the New Sam Beckett Bridge to meet up with the Cycle Path at Fairview Park and it will be a Dedicated Cycle way of 7 K. It sounds great ,hopefully the start of Something that will grow in Years to come. But I would have preferred a more Direct Route through the City Centre instead of a Circuitous one like this. They were Congratulating themselves Yesterday when Announcing it and also moaning about spending 10 Million on it. But when it comes to Cars then they can spend 100s of Millions on M Ways and not get upset. Cycling and putting in Traffic Free Zones always get put on the long Finger as they are Afraid of Putting Car Drivers and Business Peoples Nose out of Joint by Depriving them of Parking and Driving Space.
  • lehommeauvelo
    On the Dublin Cycling Campaign Site, www.cycling.ie I seen a Film on Dublin Community TV ,it was an interview with a Representative from Sustrans in the UK Kuy Hoon I think his Name is and Dublin Cycling Campaign and DC TV about Conditions in Dublin. The DCC took him around the City on a Bike and he said he thought it was worse than London with Traffic milling around Cyclists and he did not like the very narrow Cycling Lanes. I am sure this will be a part of this Series on Dublin Cycling you are Talking about. It was very interesting to watch.
  • lehommeauvelo
    The Fietsberaad sent me a DVD about Cycling Infrastructure in the Netherlands it is very interesting. I could not use it on my Mac but instead had to put it in an Old Acer PC to view it. I watched some of it about shared space and also Infrastructure in various Cities and Towns ,it is good. Thanks Mr Vorknecker of the Fietsberaad for that.
  • craig
    While I'm not one to get into the helmet debate as I think it's purely a matter of choice. For me cycling has always been about freedom and choice. Since the first days I remember pushing off on two wheels so many years ago it’s all about freedom and choice.

    This story is my intent is only to relay some of the wisdom I have gained In my 39 years of life (with at least 36 of those years spent riding). I've crashed my bike enough (with and without a helmet) to know that I am much better off having helmet on when I crash.

    This point came crashing (literally) down on me about three weeks ago. I rode to town with my daughter in tow on the chariot trailer to drop her off at 'kind art club'. Unhooking the trailer I left it at the art farm. I live rurally in the mountains of western canada and can leave it unlocked there for days. Now, without the trailer, I tend to get a little excited and ride faster. I can ride that cool single track that presents itself on the side of the road on the way home. Adrenaline getting the better of me, I sprint to the first section. I’m still in 'road' mode with thumbs not wrapped fully around the bars so, when I hit a big rut, my handlebars are jarred instantly 90degrees to the left. My right hand is thrown off the bar and up to shoulder level.

    I have that matrix moment where time stands still, I look up at my right hand, down at the turned handlebars and realize that today is a good day to be wearing a helmet. Rushing back to the now, I hit the ground hard landing on my right shoulder and rolling onto the side of my head behind my left ear. My legs come crashing hard down as I finish this high g force rolling stop from about 25-30 km/h.

    I lie there for a few moments looking up at the trees. I can wiggle the toes, hands okay, head hurts, but okay...

    The helmet rolled a little bit as I impacted, and that back part of my head feels slightly numb at first. I take off the helmet and it has cracked in the back. It’s done its job. The impact that it absorbed is huge...the engineer in me will create a spreadsheet to estimate this later.

    That’s my story, and no, I don’t work for Giro or Bell helmets. I’m just a guy that knows his riding style and the environment that I’m in. Whether it’s sprinting for a street light in the city and my chain breaks or taking a little jump by the elementary school, riding bikes is for me – at least sometimes – has always been about finding that edge. I know myself enough to know that I should be wearing a helmet because that edge presents itself in the most unexpected places.

    craig.
  • MPersson
    I am not sure if it is just me but I have only hit my head in a crash when I have been wearing a helmet. Part of it is how much bigger it makes the area around your head (once I misjudged a low hanging branch because of a helmet).

    I ride off road motorcycles too. I believe that the additional weight of a motorcycle helmet has also caused me to hit my head more than I would without one. Having said that, I would never ride a motorcycle without a helmet.
  • lehommeauvelo
    That happened to me once in a Forest because I was wearing a Helmet. I misjudged the Distance between a Branch overhead and my Head because of the Clunky Helmet. The Branch caught the Helmet Nearly Choking me on the Neck Strap.
    I always try to avoid wearing them and have only used them very occasionally in the past on Touring around the Countryside. I absolutely Hate them,they seem to Insulate you from the Real World Deadening your Sensations. I actually think they are very Dangerous to use.

    Motorcycle use is a different thing than Cycling it is more High Speed and Dangerous especially when Turning. I would Advocate there use for Car Drivers they are always Crashing and Killing themselves especially in Ireland. Loads of cases of Cars Driving into Walls on Straight Roads in the Early Hours in the City and Countryside and no other Vehicles involved. Inspite of having Airbags it does not seem to be able to Protect them from being Killed.
  • craig
    I hear what you guys are saying about the helmet perhaps causing worse injuries than not. But like I said, I've hit my head with and without a helmet and it's always better to have a helmet pad the impact rather than feeling that sick thud as your head hits pavement. I might agree that old school hardshell helmets were heavy and clunky. But newer helmets are light and not so clunky and I'll take my chances, you just have to adjust if you're in the trees.

    Personally, when I was bike racing in the 90's I had two friends die after hitting their heads during a crash. One was wearing an old style leather hairnet that were common in the 70's amongst bike racers. He was at the junior world championships in England on a veledrome just warming up when he fell, hit his head was in a coma for a week before he died at age 17. The friend hit a car that turned left in front of him, hit it at 70 km/hr went through the windshield - He also was in a coma for weeks, although it is questionable whether a helmet would have helped him.

    To say that bikes don't go fast enough to warrant a helmet is relative. I regularly hit 70 km/h on steep hills where I live. And in my racing days we would get up to 105 km/h on mountain descents.

    As I said in my original post, I'm not trying to convince anyone to wear a helmet who doesn't want to, but many slow cycling blogs tend to ridicule helmets as unnecessary, but my riding style even when I'm in slow mode dictates that a helmet is always a wise option for me.
  • thanks for sharing, Craig. Yes to choice. The ridiculing that goes on has to do with the social blackmail and absolutely baseless fear-mongering that goes on.

    Your points (regarding how you cycle) make my and others' point exactly. Urban/normal/everyday cycling doesn't need helmets. The whole point is that the push for helmets has proven to make cycling less safe. Cities and countries regulating its use are covering up for their failures to implement the necessary means to enable a safe environment.
  • Val
    Wow, what a weird feeling for me to think of Irish attitudes this way...my mental impression of Ireland must be left over from about 1948 (and Flann O'Brein), when everyone walked and cycled everywhere, and cars were rare. So sad to find that the country has transmogrified this way, and so encouraging to know that they are taking some steps to reverse it.
  • While I think cycling is problematic throughout the country, Dublin is just a bit of a disaster in terms of cycling. We're catching up now, but the planning in the city has been geared towards cars and motorised transport. It's not a sprawling city so it makes sense to push bikes as the way forward, but this was never done as our economy grew. As such, we have a new focus on bikes, but without the infrastructure to cope yet (i.e. very few cycle lanes in the city center, etc.). Cyclists get to use bus lanes of course, but these lanes are often very dangerous because buses... well, the drivers think they own the roads!

    Dublin Bikes is a huge step forward for us, and seems to be a real success so far. A friend of mine works in a bike shop and he's seeing a huge increase in "normal" people buying commuter bikes. Great!
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