It’s here. And it doesn’t look like it will skip town anytime soon. In just a week we moved from just catching some rays to, yes, dare I say it…springy-dee springtime. What a relief. And no other way to prematurely celebrate a new season than with a ride around town…aka lots of pictures :). Let there be light.

Ok, ok, Mr Freight deserves one too.

Every winter you’ll see the same phenomenon unfold in Amsterdam (and basically anywhere else in the country): the Dutch desperately seeking refuge on the terraces.

A people desperate for a shot of UV, specially near the end of a long, cold and dark winter, a real winter.

This one being the record-braker that it was, last weekend the sight of Amsterdammers scrambling for their spot in the sun must have triggered the curiosity of many visitors: “How can these people sit outside? It’s freezing!!”

As always, the answer is quite simple. Blue skies, the sun blazing and there was hardly any wind to speak of. All you need to temporarily escape the grip of a relentless winter.

Oh, and of course they will get to their place in the sun by bicycle. You could call that instrumental for a full recovery…and dream of the end of winter. And when you let people on bicycles be your seasonal talisman, you’d be convinced spring had already arrived ;).

Stop at any junction in Amsterdam, and instantly you’ll feel like you’ve entered the realm of a busy beehive. These bees, however, won’t sting.

Cycle Chic bees doing the side saddle hop & go

Mobile buzzing

Talkative bees

Wind so cold, it would turn any bee purple

Always anticipating bee

Pets included

Bee friends buzzing their goodbyes

A bee facing fashion & the most joyful smile you’ll ever get from a cycle chic bee

Busy bees are of the hungry kind

They sure are a happy lot, those cycling bees

See all of the Bicycle Beehive here or here.

There’s no denial anymore, winter has really arrived. Best of all, it’s a sunny winter spell. Snow fall at night, all clear and crispy during the day, little bit of wind chill…How cold? I dunno, it was cold. ;)

On Friday afternoon I set out to capture what would become the first part. My friend Isabelle already lamented the fact that I had missed out on the beautiful morning light hitting the city. But she was nice enough to share it with me (see above).

But rest assured, the afternoon light wasn’t too shabby, either.

Take-away coffee

High heels txt stop

Then, as soon as I was back home it started snowing and basically that hasn’t stopped since. So here’s a selection of part deux of this winter cycle wonderland;

Dear readers, meet Karlijn, she inquired about my presence :)

Mr. Freight deserved this shot, after fulfilling his tasks so effortlessly.

There are many more in the Winter Cycle Wonderland set, in case you can’t get enough :).

More here.

Paying more attention to his cellphone than the new bike path.

Elephant watching on Museum Square.

Oh, hello! Yes, I'm back at it again :).

Just lyrical…

Side Saddle’s All In The Family.

Designated Rider

Superior seating.

Txt & Ride

Finally I spotted a friend crossing the street. Hi, Jasmijn, very cycle chic ;).

Time to go home.

See ‘m all in the ‘Cycle Embrace‘ photo set.

What does your ride look like these days?

A long overdue and lengthy leftover from my travels this summer. Biking Berlin with Lauren & Teresa on our orange Fat Tire rental bikes.

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.

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):

• No, this cycling Nirvana hasn’t been around for centuries, it was man-made.
• No, people don’t cycle this much because the country is flat, but because it’s practical, convenient and fun, rain or shine.
• No, we’re not high on anything, tourists are. (this is a bonus entry, just had to put that in :-p)

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.