From Rotterdam we go to Utrecht, about 45 kilometers south of Amsterdam and smack in the middle of the Netherlands.
I was born not far from it, went to high school here and when I walked into the city for an appointment yesterday, I realized it really has been years since I last set foot [...]
Utrecht Velo Moments
Gus The Grunt
Reader Dave from Minneapolis introduces his new pride and joy: Gus The Grunt
My new, sturdy steed was delivered today, which was nice because I had to run some errands. I just snapped a couple of shots for you. One, of course, is of Gus the Grunt. And because he’s an industrial sort of guy, [...]
The View From A Bicycle - Portland
I’ve been accumulating some more short video clips over the last week or so. Here are a couple more videos that I’ve pieced together from the clips:
The first is mostly a trip to a grocery store near us, with a couple other pieces of my work commute at the beginning and end, music by Radiohead.
The [...]
Chic Greetings From Sevastopol, Ukraine
Denis sent me an e-mail this week:
These days were quite cold on The Black Sea and I should admit that people still have not used to cycle at any weather. People in Sevastopol prefer to ride on mountain bikes, though these bikes can`t be called mountain in pure understanding of the term as they only [...]
French Kiss
For some strange reason this short film by François Truffaut popped into my head the other day. Les…
For the full photographic glory and the rest of the text, you know where to go.
Another view of cycle parking
The Netherlands has a lot of bicycles, and as a result also a lot of cycle theft. However, most theft is in the bigger cities. Assen is a very safe place to park your bicycle. The insurance companies know about this stuff, and cycle insurance costs half as much here as in Amsterdam.
Here, you’ll find [...]
Sing
Dave pointed me to this, then I remembered I had seen Travis’ video clip of ‘Sing’ before, but also realized I never caught the first bit. It all probably seems too good to be true to many, but let me tell you, this is a very familiar weekend scene in Amsterdam.
Now this song makes [...]
Bike Love
“The Dutch can do everything on a bicycle”
What else?
Move furniture, kids, plants, dogs, instruments, shopping bags, tv’s, refrigerators, other bikes, police the streets, sell hot dogs, coffee, supply information, deliver parcels, go to work, go to school, visit family…without so much as breaking a sweat.
Like Chess? Meet ‘El Diablo’
Didi Senft, a 56-year-old cycling fan better known as ‘El Diablo’, poses with a chess bike for the media at the ‘Bundeskunsthalle’ in Bonn, October 21, 2008. The World Chess Championship between World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand from India and Vladimir Kramnik from Russia takes place in Bonn from October 14 to November 2, 2008.
Give [...]
Rekindled Cycle Love - Part Deux
Some time ago I wrote a few words about and posted a little video of my friend Kim, getting herself back on a bike again after 15 years. Giddy as a kid on her new Johnny Loco City Cruiser.
Today my feeds supplied me with another case of rekindled love for cycling. Meet San Smith from [...]
Fold It! Strida’s MAS Special Signature
I own a Strida 4, have always loved it for its purpose: short rides, taking it on train, tram, bus, whatever form of public transportation. Here’s some news on that front, from Jaunted:
Self-Propelled Travel: STRiDA’s Folding Bicycle
“If you’re headed on an extended trip and the destination city has little in the way of public transportation, [...]
A Change Of Pace
From Bike Utay Valley comes this lovely and stylish nugget:
“This is my sister, Annie. Annie used to be like a lot of us in the sense that her bike was used for recreation, if ever at all. In fact, Annie, has become a perfect example of what this blog is all about. She started reading [...]
New Bike License Plate (for the car)
From Travis, proud owner of a new bakfiets, over at Bike, A Noun, A Verbe:
My front license plate went missing so I had to get new ones. These were the same price so what the heck. Promote the bike thing until it is so ubiquitous that it is obnoxious, then take one step back and [...]
Consider The Potential
Say you have national or regional elections. In any type of democracy (or (semi-dictatorships) career politicians will fight for your (or fictional/alleged) vote, left and right. Every year more and preposterous amounts of money are thrown out the window to get the message out, aka pandering to the base with promises that would shame a [...]
Tony Bullard: Makes You Think
From Tony Bullard comes a great post on one of the many reasons I cycle. He’s inspired me to create a new category on Amsterdamize soon…’This Is Also Why I Cycle’.
“The combination of this article and this picture:
(click for larger, readable version)
really makes me think.
This morning I was driving to work in the pouring rain. [...]
d’mn, i should have gotten that 911 operator’s name …
faqs on assault (from here):
q: what is the definition of “assault”?a: assault is the most commonly committed violent crime in the u.s. in many states, assaults are classified as either ’simple’ or ‘aggravated’. a simple assault is making another person apprehensive of a physical attack or negligently causing injury to another person with a weapon. [...]
Je n’en fait pas partie
Je ne fais pas partie d’aucun groupe de pression cycliste, d’aucune organisation, d’aucun collectif… Je trouve qu’il y a quelque chose qui ne marche pas avec toutes ces organisations. L’organisme qui pourrait changer quelque chose rapidement, qui pourrait faire en sorte que les infrastructures cyclables de Montréal soient améliorées en s’inspirant sur les villes qui [...]
Community Spirit
What a pleasure to see so many people joined up, both here and on Facebook.
Now that I’ve muscled my way through the comments and added the post below this one with a looooong list of members, I’m thinking that this really is a community, more than a blog.
What we need are Slow Bicycle Rides all [...]
Cyclechic Shop: Knog love’n'hate gloves
Product DetailsHand Stitched fine grained goatskin leather with a dense lateral strength and double stitching at key points.Price £25 (Postage £3 with in the UK, please email for a postage quote from outside the UK)
Cyclechic VerdictAnd who said cyclists don’t have a sense of humour… Following on from the Frog lights Knog have yet again [...]
Fall 2008
Here’s what’s going on and coming soon:
Look forward to a guest post from Jennifer about bicycling in San Fransisco.
A custom name sticker from Velorbis has arrived for my Churchill Classic.
Guess where we’re going in October…here’s a hint: “Se solen stiger op over bilkirkegården…”
More Bikes in Media
Seems TV shows and clothes catalogs have decided that a bicycle is essential to be hip. Note that they’re all wearing “normal” clothes, no lycra here.
This is a summer-long trend, we saw bikes in June, and back in May. I haven’t attempted to catalog all that I’ve seen (there’s a bike used in a beer [...]
Artsy Fartsy Saturday
Been busy today. Guests have just gone home. Figured it was time for some artsy-fartsty…
For the full photographic glory and the rest of the text, you know where to go.
Bold Print Dress, Headphones….In the Zone
I love the way she balanced herself on her bicycle… totally in her zone.
Riding Pretty
Cycle parking at home
A law in 1992 laid down standards for the size of cycle storage that it was compulsory for all new homes in the Netherlands to be built with.
In 2003 the incumbent government overturned this legislation, and was much criticised for that decision.
Fietsersbond (the cycling campaign organisation) and some consumer organisations objected strongly about this change, [...]
no dice
Ah, shirts are way overrated!
fall and rise of the bicycle
The Fall and Rise of the Bicycle is a BBC Radio 4 series from July 2006, still available via that miracle of science that is t’Internet. Just click on the “Listen again…” link near the foot of the linked page for the streaming audio. (Requires Realplayer or Mplayer or similar). The programmes make for very [...]
Minneapolis bicycling links…
It was an historic moment over a century in the making. When the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board of Commissioners (MPRB) unanimously approved the Grand Rounds Missing Link route alignment on Sept. 3, the 125-year-old vision of Horace Cleveland took a major step forward.
I’ve mentioned before that new trails in NE Minneapolis (Diagonal & St. [...]
European Cycle Chic Round Off
[Cycle Chic: riding a bike in normal clothes, on a normal bike, preferably for commuting purposes]
In no particular order: London, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Brussels, Antwerp, Paris, Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Bern, Vienna, Barcelona, Madrid, Milan, Rome, Athens and vicinity.
[...]
