Let’s celebrate the fact that cycling is for everyone. The most democratic means of transportation that benefits the individual (old, young, rich, poor), the urban landscape and the whole of society. It did back when, it does now & will increasingly do so in the near future.

For this blog it means I can pick and choose from a sheer endless stream of people on two (or more) wheels. As others have described it more eloquently: capturing the stream of consciousness of the urban fabric, humanity in motion.

Let this stream invade and tickle your brain. You should demand the same. Oh, and the photo stream below does at some point come to an end. There will always be more bike thrills for a next post. Enjoy.

Meanwhile, in New Amsterdam there’s a media war/debate, triggered by one(!) bike path, going off the chart.

Two Saturdays ago I had two appointments scheduled in the afternoon. First with Joe Peach, contributor of ThisBigCity, who was traveling around the Netherlands to do research for his upcoming Masters dissertation. He studies Sustainable Communities and the Creative Economy and his dissertation explores how cycling infrastructure encourages social sustainability in cities.

Suffice to say, Joe had a few questions for me, we went through a whole range of topics regarding the benefits of cycling and hopefully it made a contribution to his body of knowledge. I for one am looking forward to reading up on it, when the time comes. We rode off, he went east, I had only a short bit to cover, so said goodbye at De Waag on Nieuwmarkt, the proper ‘bike blogger’ way ;).

Next, I met up with Anthony Robson, the cycling lawyer of CityCycling from Edinburgh, Scotland. His online magazine is well known in the blogosphere & as it turned out, expectantly, he and his wife were a delight to talk to. Because of time constraints we didn’t get to ride together, but they shared their experiences with me over some good beers at their hotel bar.

Allow me to quote Anthony’s take on cycling in Amsterdam verbatim, as its premise is not unlike others, but most others don’t look beyond it like he did. From his post ‘Anthsterdam‘:

Ah, Amsterdam. Cycling utopia, land of the free, an orange canvas of criss-crossed canals and segregated safe cycle lanes where everyone and their dog (literally) cycles in an airy manner reminiscent of Audrey Hepburn. Erm. It doesn’t necessarily help to paint such a picture before you visit a place, but it’s safe to say that I’d managed to do that before going to Amsterdam, and found myself brought back to earth with a bump.

I have to admit that a bitingly cold March weekend, with temperatures starting in the minus side of the celsius scale, probably isn’t the best time to try cycling in a new city for the first time, but when in ‘Dam… And so it was, the first morning after arriving in the city, we visited the local bike hire emporium (with a chap behind the counter who was half ‘dammer, half Whitby, and spoke with a fabulous Dutch/Yorkshire crossover, I kid you not). ‘Granny’ bikes procured, a segregated canalside lane opposite, we pushed off into the upright ‘normal clothed’ world of cycling.

I can recall perfectly my first impressions which were, in order, this is so flat, superb!; my fixed wheel has a bigger gear than this; and bugger, who has priority at this junction coming up…?

The segregation had ended and we were thrust onto the mean streets. This was the first surprise realisation. Segregation of cyclists in Amsterdam is not quite as widespread as we might be lead to believe whenever a debate springs up in the UK about how other countries do things, and more pertinently, how they do things ‘better’. The second surprise was just how closely the motorised traffic would follow you, and pass you, when you weren’t in your segregated haven. This was becoming more stressful than I had ever imagined, and my better half, who cycles infrequently back home primarily because of traffic fears, but who loved a jaunt around Copenhagen, and even Paris, on a bike was looking decidedly uncertain about our choice to cycle for the day.

It didn’t really let up. Roads shared with cars, trams and scooters just created a constant ‘buzz’, and as for the pedestrians (tourists mainly, it has to be said) stepping out in front of you… I used the bell on my handlebars more int he first five minutes of riding than I have the rest of my cycling career. And then Mel saw a scooter rider elbow a moving cyclist out of the way to squeeze by as a tram was passing both. And I almost ended up in the side of a Mini that pulled out in front of me (at the time I didn’t realise the rule was to give way to traffic coming from your right and had blithely assumed, once more through ill-informed ‘facts’ given about cycling in Amsterdam, that cars were always looking out for bikes and ceding passage to them all the time).

What had happened to my dreams of a cycling utopia? That evening we met up with Marc van Woudenberg, the man behind Amsterdamize. And so began the education. He immediately seized on the recounted experiences and simply stated, “You’re riding like a Brit.” Strangely this made sense, not much more explanation was needed. In the UK when a driver is sitting right on your tail, or squeezing through an impossible gap, it’s done so with a veneer of aggression. In Amsterdam, if you don’t move to the right for a car behind to be able to squeeze through then that car will simply drive behind you and (usually) not get annoyed. True, we heard a few exasperated horns, but in the UK if everyone rode in a Franklin-primary down narrow streets the sound of horns would build to a cacophony.

For two hours cycling was discussed with Marc, the comparisons between the Netherlands and the UK and Denmark and the US. And after availing myself of the notion that the Netherlands are not the UK, it was also made clear that they are not Denmark either. They may be another bastion of upright daily people who cycle, rather than ‘cyclists’, but the way they go about it is different. In Amsterdam there aren’t the ‘green phase’ light sequences that favour bikes, or, as already pointed out, the proliferation of segregated lanes (Marc pointed out that they are put ‘where needed’). The riders are much more geared up to cycling ‘with’ the traffic, with an eye always on the errant pedestrians. It actually, bizarrely, almost felt like a British infrastructure (granted, the BEST that Britain could offer, with no ‘Cyclists Dismount’ signs and the like) partnered with a Dutch ‘go with the flow’ attitude that extends into the drivers.

It’s hard to put into words, but the phrase ‘organised chaos’ springs to mind more readily when thinking of cycling in Amsterdam. Copenhagen is a ballet; Amsterdam a rave.

The following day we reverted to bipedal transport, but I was paying closer attention to the cyclists. Watching interactions. Taking account of styles. And it all started to slot into place. You could see the directions that cyclists were looking as they approached an intersection; and you could see the drivers looking in that same way, but (and this is a key difference) the drivers slowed down more, taking account of the fact that their field of vision was somewhat more obscured. Yes, they were still riding what I would consider far too close toa cyclist in front, but as soon as they came to a crossroads the cyclist would steal a march, and the driver would be left to play catch-up again.

There were rules. And those rules are completely different from ‘laws’. For example, red lights seem entirely advisory to cyclists. The day before I had indulged in a little experiment. The riders ahead had all gone through red lights, and I had followed, copying their slowing down and checking before carrying on. Something I would never do in the UK (run the red light, that is). And then I decided to stop at one. A curious thing happened, the 7 or 8 riders behind me also stopped. I couldn’t quite fathom it at the time, but I wonder if, over and above the ‘human sheep’ response there was a belief that I had stopped for a reason and therefore they would be better stopping as well.

Here the rule (being careful) was actually more important than the law (stop every time). Sometimes the two coincided, but it was always the former that took precedence. Pedestrians were still, and ever, an issue. Stepping out constantly (though to be fair the pavements were incredibly often covered in parked bikes), the sound of the bell is more ever-present than the car horn back in the UK.

But there was one last thing that struck me as I pondered the quandary that is Amsterdam cycling (and no, it wasn’t a bike). No matter where or when a bike ran a red light; or used a pavement as a convenient cut-through shortcut; or dinged a bell at a pedestrian in the way; no-one complained. No-one raised their voice. No-one even raised an eyebrow. I’m sure it must happen sometimes, but it was accepted as being part of the way bikes operate in the city. As Marc had put it the night before, they are not cyclists but rather pedestrians who simply move a bit faster. Or as my friend back in the UK, David Gardiner, a recumbent rider with years of experience on the roads of the Netherlands, coined a phrase, bikes are shoes to the Dutch.

Comfortable shoes at that. A Brit in Amsterdam just needs to break them in.

Good stuff, well observed & insightful, thanks Anthony! To extend on it: the (historic) downtown area is basically 60% sharing the road (which means people on bikes dominate cars), 20% bicycle-only & 20% segregated. Downtown, car speeds are low and access restricted. So the more you venture outside the city center (where you’ll cross paths with arterial routes into town), the more segregated bicycle infrastructure you’ll see.

In general, when we talk about overall implementation/application of bicycle infrastructure (up to code) in the Netherlands, Amsterdam is not the yard stick, because its grid, history & car route/access dynamics are different from most other cities. Yes, Amsterdam does use the same building code as the rest of the country, but it applies it differently.

Regarding the ‘rules’: Anthony is absolutely spot on. Yes, people will run red lights, I do too, when the volume of traffic allows it, and if often does.

Lots of visitors stare in wonder at the ‘organized chaos’, as in: “How come they don’t crash into each other?”, I answer accordingly: “They don’t because they grow up biking and never stop. They’re skilled and the key thing to their effortlessness is that they’re good at anticipating traffic, specially other people on bicycles.” Add to that that car drivers also cycle, and you have a situation where people on bicycles are taken seriously.

This video from this post gives a good impression of that.

You have to see if for yourself to understand it. It helped Joe & Anthony in different ways, but from equally important angles. Hopefully they’re able to translate their experience to something valuable in their realm. If needed, we can always ride some more ;). Cheers, mates!

Aside from the obvious rise in temperature, you know something’s up when…

…the bicycle postman is wearing his summer gear

…you see bare arms and legs

…kids come out to play in full force

…the gloves can come off

..people who ride abreast are a tad chattier

…colors get more appreciation from the sun

…couples on bicycles holding hands have to let go because of skating cones

…some sort of appreciate the street photographer & some simply ignore him

…quality time is so much more than that

…dinking is so much more fun

…riding to the park to go for a run seems so much more rewarding

…you snap one shot of tranquility to the next

…you can be comfy with a sport jacket & a pink coat

…in short: everything just feels right

At some point I got a call from my friend Gabemac: “This weather is nuts. Whaddaya up to?” “I’m hitting the city, playing catch up with the blog.” “Wanna walk around together? I’m bringing my camera, too.” “Of course, dude, come on over.”

I finished my coffee, watching the neighborhood coming to life.

Morning Feeding Time

Then 15 minutes later…

My Accomplice Arrives

And off we went.

Leaving Mr & Ms To Bask In The Sun

Cutting Through The RLD

Train

Buying Flowers & Owning Flowers

Forgot His Gloves

Bipedal & An Act Of Three (III)

Casual Chic Attack

Follow The Red Tarmac Road

Rare Species

Sunday Suit & Secret Service

Bipedal

He Also Takes Pictures Of People On Bicycles

Spot The Tourists

Purple Haze & (No) Thought

Jolie

Two Going Up & Two Going Down

hAMSter Weeks

Practical, Spots A Spot & Parks It

Just The Three Of Us, Gezellig.

#BikeAMS & Daddy-Son-Dog-Mum (II)

Yeah, Seriously?

I Always Smoke A Cigar & Read A Book When I Ride My Bike & MMM

Urban Camouflage

TXT (VII)

Red Lady In Red

Leaving & Arriving

Legs, Pedals, Rail

Penny For Your Thought & Front Row

Porcelain Is Boring

She Doesn’t Do Sit-Ups

Sunny Chic & Comfy

Color Splash

Into The Darkness

Tubes & Spokes

Practical Petit & Carry On

And Then She Smiles

She Does Art

Handlebar Talk

Chauffeur & Passenger

The Bearable Tightness Of Bike Parking

Him & Her

I saw Haley, a friend, ride by, going too fast to acknowledge & yell ‘hi’…well, I could have opted NOT to take this pic, of course :)

Fun Two

Later on our friend Rose joined us, who always adds flavor to any day. Not coincidently, she wrapped up in style.

Peace, Out

Yes, a picture perfect day. Bring it on, spring.

Humans and their pets. One thought that comes to mind is that we mostly treat ‘m like humans. In good & bad ways, but let’s go for the majority vote, the good. A snippet from a municipal policy guideline:

No city can really thrive without animals. Animals represent an important part of our community. As companions, as an endangered species and sometimes as a source of nuisance.
By connecting the interests of users (humans and animals) of the public space and align these with each other, we’ll be able to create a more harmonious co-existence. The municipal welfare policy should not only represent the human vision, but also give animals a voice. There needs to be recognition that animals shouldn’t be viewed primarily on the basis of their meaning, usefulness or the damage they possibly cause to humans, but that they should be assessed on their value as living beings.

Isn’t it striking how one can so easily replace the above subjects with ‘people on bicycles’ & ‘car drivers’, to describe a virtually equal objective? Or for that matter, ‘people on foot’ & ‘transit’? Exactly. I could now veer off into an expose on how equality has prevailed in everyday traffic & policies in the Netherlands, but I won’t.

In these pictures you can easily see the ‘chain reaction’ of positive bicycle policies & promotion at work. The more human you treat your city landscape (by design), the more inviting and inspiring it is for people to act accordingly. Cycling is dealt with as a faster way of walking, so that gets facilitated appropriately. Cycling becomes the norm, then the most normal thing in the world: not giving it another thought. With the ease of cycling comes the natural selection of applications, aka: what can I do on my bike? The options are almost limitless. And pets, well, they form just one extension of those applications. Thus, people are able to seamlessly have their pets join them on their A2B routes, regardless of time & place (& weather).

In short: nobody will look funny at you. Better yet, people copy behavior. And who wouldn’t want to copy this, right?

And why not add ‘The Chase’, while I’m at it. And click here if you wanna see me ride around with my parents’ Jack Russel named ‘Beau’.

Mikael recently published a set of 49 pictures called ‘Bicycles: Cyclists Signalling* a Turn or a Stop‘, 48 of which he took in Copenhagen, 1 in Amsterdam. Two examples, one of a stop & one of a turn:

Given the similarities of our two bicycle cultures (which also includes drinking habits), I figured I could match that, so I roamed my archives and found out I had the opportunity to top that figure by 1..call it symbolism :) (and I’ll get to cycling & drinking some other time).

As you obviously figured out on your own, Amsterdammers & Copenhagenianerannersuskjuians (freely translated from a Dane’s mouth chewing on raw herring with pickles) have the signaling in common, but the Dutch don’t do and have never done the stop sign. We don’t miss that, what we have works for us. Stopping just needs a little anticipation, a quick scan of your environment and it’s fine to do so. No fuss.

Or…you could just argue that the Danes are more polite, in conversation (less blunt) and in this case, regarding gesturing to their fellow human beings – leaving out the middle finger phenomenon. But…then you could counter that the Dutch are more laissez-faire, no-nonsense. Which in turn are generalizations that probably have some truth to them, but don’t do little nuances any justice. Nuances like that people on bikes in Amsterdam are so intuitive in traffic, they don’t need to read a whole lot of body language to see what’s going on or going to happen. [...] Oh right, ‘body language’. No no no, I’m not even touching that sexist filth called ‘Cycle Chic’. Ugh, what is he on, right?!? People in normal clothes on normal bikes (or vacuum cleaners, as he calls them) going from A to B, chatting about livable urban utopias and what not. Pff, you’re not fooling me.

Anyway. For those who can’t be bothered to take a look at the rest of my specially arranged photo set, here are a few more:

Oh wait, about that ‘cycling & beer’ thing;

It’s not my kind of beer, but it is my town & exactly my spirit. Now, can somebody direct me to København’s equivalent? :p

* ‘Signalling’ is British spelling. Mikael is half British, half Dane. ‘Signaling’ is North American spelling. My girlfriend is from the US…yup, that’s my excuse.

There’s this little ol’ bridge over the River Amstel. De Magere Brug, aka Skinny Bridge. It’s a popular route for people biking east from downtown Amsterdam & vice versa.

It’s also one of my popular spots to take my time and watch, observe & click. This is one of a few sequences I clicked a week ago:

Now tell me, didn’t you just feel that Dutch wind yourself? :)

Just in case you didn’t, watch this video I shot back in 2008:

Slowly but surely a heavy snow front moved over the Netherlands last Friday. Given that our national railway company has shown to be ill-prepared for anything wet, whether liquid or solid, I left the office (about 55 km south of Amsterdam) early, around 3pm. Unsurprisingly, trains were out of order indefinitely.

I took a shot at taking a bus. As that schedule was shaky too, I used the winter scenes as a way to calm down :).

I’ll spare you the details, but I got home over 5 hours later. Yes, completely knackered, fed up & generally frustrated at the complete melt-down of our public transportation network.

So I popped a beer, took it easy and occasionally looked out the window, appreciating the fact that I actually made it back home.

I woke up to an even whiter wonder world. That called for a ride & pictures. Not exactly a comfortable one, because again the city ordinance neglected to do the right thing & clear the roads, even the most traveled ones. And this weekend it’s certainly worse than last one, lots of ice, sleet and piled up crap that creates unnecessary havoc & risky situations. Of course, Amsterdammers/the Dutch are pretty pragmatic, you’ll still see ‘m out there on two wheels, but not as much as usual. With trams and buses not exactly running on time, there are only two options left: on foot or by car. Guess what, people will not walk 2-7 km for their daily errands.

Anyway, I think I managed to capture the essence of the aforementioned. Regarding the mood of this post & to be absolutely clear: this city’s beauty quickly melted away all my built-up frustrations. Some would say: nothing a bike ride can’t fix.

I fell on my butt twice this weekend. Both on foot. Just sayin’. :)

No matter how many times I see it, I -am not Marc by the way. Álvaro, nice to meet you- never get used to just how beautiful Amsterdam is when it’s covered in white. Other than the tamed cars and the muffled noises, life really just goes on. Well, actually the city sort of cheers up a wee bit all of a sudden.

Don’t get me wrong, people in Amsterdam are always nice and cheerful, it’s just a subtle mood switch. They will smile at you when you ride by them and wish you good luck. Anywhere you look there’s someone throwing a snowball, a kid with a sled, a hipster snowboarding down canal bridges, and of course, people on two wheels.

Or even three wheels.

People still do their groceries, go to hockey practice,

take the kids to school early in the morning and deliver parcels.

And of course, Amsterdam girls still go around on their bikes looking fabulous, in their usual effortless sort of way of being pretty.

PS: Yours truly was kindly invited by Marc to bring in the point of view of an expat who loves this city and its bicycle culture to Amsterdamize. I wholeheartedly accepted.

Amsterdammers experienced a few atmospheric transitions the last couple of weeks. The Dutch love to talk about the weather, but that doesn’t imply they hate it. Otherwise they wouldn’t keep on riding as they do.

We went from ‘just a particularly cold fall’…

To our first snow…

To just bone-chilling crispyness…

To a bit of slippin’ & sliding’…as the City of Amsterdam deemed it unnecessary to clear the paths on a massive scale. Or more precise: they looked at the 2-day forecast and figured it would melt away fast enough. Wrong. Fail. Think ahead a little more & you can imagine frozen sleet. And fewer people having to make use of the first aid.

More on that in the next post.

Lauren & I managed (on our Sinterklaas shopping spree), although she did fall in a slow turn. Aside from that, the city does look extra pretty in white. My favorite season.

And finally…the scenic transition of one (of two) wrecked ‘orphan bike’ in front of our house.

PS: the swans are also always there. Rain, shine, snow, sleet, whatever.

Usually, I can’t be bothered by theme parks and fairs (although I found the one at Oktoberfest impressive and fun), but ever since Lauren moved to Amsterdam I’ve participated in other activities that I’d usually take for granted.

Not long ago one (in Dutch: ‘kermis‘, which evolved from this) set up shop on Dam Square and Lauren couldn’t wait to go for a spin. Who was I to deny that. Plus, I’d never taken pics from that high up before, certainly not smack in the middle of the city center.

The five minutes on the Ferris Wheel were short, but sufficient for a couple of snapshots and subsequently this quick post.

The kermis casts a particular light on people passing by.

That behind us, back on solid ground, we moved on, continuing on our stroll around the block, to unwind & have an occasional beer. All feeling like giants in a small, yet grand city again. Big or small, wheels do make the world go round. (And plenty to see on foot, too :))

Not bad for a casual Thursday evening.