I was fortunate to be able to borrow a friend’s little (but sturdy) canal boat, aka The Red August, to cruise the city on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Every time I’m back on Amsterdam’s water ways, I enjoy and welcome the change in perspective. It basically feels the same way that cycling does, as in: you’re among many likeminded people (and with boating you DO give each other a quick nod or even wave) and you don’t have a care in the world. Added bonus: it really is the best escape… without fleeing the city. No obstructions, go as you please and so much more (time) to observe, taking advantage of an extra layer, dimension, a slightly better backdrop.

Splendid.

The green outskirts or the city center, it doesn’t matter, really. Just unwind on and off that bike, be it for 5 minutes or 5 hours, ’tis all good.

See it as a shoddy piece of anthropology, sociology, what have you. People on the move at some point between 6 and 9 pm. For all imaginable purposes. Observe and guess. Then guess again. Some are less obvious than others. But hey, that’s the fun of it. For me at least. Filtering out the details of the extraordinary ordinary that cycling in the city represents.

Leading questions:
- Is cycling gender-specific?
- Is cycling age-specific?
- Is cycling income-specific?
- Is cycling difficult?
- Does cycling require special gear?
- Is cycling healthy?
- Does cycling make cities more livable?
- Is cycling easy on the eyes?
- Etc… (*tongue-firmly-planted-in-cheek*)

Specimen #1

Specimen #2

Specimen #3 & #4

Specimen #5

Specimen #6

Specimen #7 & #8

Specimen #9

Specimen #10

Nothing but time. Who’s in a rush. It’s summer and it’s the weekend. Many are on vacation, but who needs one when you live in Amsterdam, it’s zen on two wheels, all the way. Merely have a seat on a(ny) terrace, have a beer and observe…

18:00 on Sunday, July 11 2010. Lauren and I, and much of Amsterdam (& beyond) were moving towards Museum Square to watch the World Cup Final.

I’m cheating a bit here (as catching up on ones blog posts will have you do), letting Lauren’s experience of all of this do the talking, through the ‘unbiased’ eyes of someone who just moved to the Netherlands. Here and there I inserted some more orange clad bike stuff ;).

Even with the disappointing outcome of the World Cup Finals the night of the game was still great. Marc really wanted to watch the game in Museumplein with about 200,000 of his country men and women so that is where we headed! We got there around 6pm so we could witness and be a part of the excitement and partying.

But the day didn’t start at the Museumplein and neither did the partying…it was going on ALL over the city!

As you can see [above], football fans come in all ages and sizes…

And as my luck would have it the day of the World Cup Finals my bike had a flat tire but as Marc and I waited for it to be fixed Marc found lots of inspiration for his photographs..

-Tres Chic in her Orange-

Once my tire was fixed we were off to join in with the rest of the city…

Believe it or not I actually have NO orange in my wardrobe here so I had to DIY something really quick…I grabbed Marc’s Polo orange belt and was ready to go!

We cheered with some more fans along the way…

And of course the scene once we got to Museumplein was one of pure craziness and insanity….we couldn’t wait to join in!

And then the cans of Orange smoke were opened in anticipation of the game…these fans were going crazy!

What came next was beautiful too! There were multiple helicopters circling above the field and they started to throw out orange flowers over the crowd! If you look closely in the picture below you can see the flowers being released.

Caught one!

It was such an amazing feeling to be with all these people for the game…every attempted goal, every foul, every good or bad play received a reaction from the crowd and at times you could literally feel the ground move.

We all know the unfortunate outcome and I can only begin to imagine how this city would have celebrated a Holland victory…something I wish I could have experienced. I am sure a Houseboat or 2 would have been sunk. As we rode home through the now quiet Vondel Park, Marc just kept repeating how he couldn’t believe they had lost. He was so sad

The experience was an amazing one for me and one I will not soon forget. I have a feeling the following words or something of the sort ”I was living in Amsterdam when the Dutch were in the 2010 WC finals…” will be coming out of my mouth for years to come.

Didn’t have enough? Then go and read Henry’s take on it. Like Lauren, he’s an American expat, but a more ‘experienced’ and on topic one :).

This summer has been hot so far, so cycling goes down just a notch, we don’t like to break a sweat, like with our daily A-to-B-isms. Good for me, gives me even more time to frame my captures.

You go and head out for one of the city’s beaches, for instance.

En route, it’s very likely you spot a certain blog post’s subject :).

This is just one of many ways to move your bikes.

Easy going at the lights.

Back in the city, cycling forms a welcome cooling off.

For some cooler than others.

Carry on.

Summer discounts and such.

Three on two equals six.

Grocery shopping togetherness.

And those days seem to go on and on, and on, and on…

Quoting Henry:

A little bit of bike rap Courtesy of the City of Amsterdam who is finally waking up to the fact that bicycles are one of the Netherlands greatest attractions and on e of the strongest reasons it’s just such a darn lovely, peaceful place to visit or live. The incredible cycling mode share enables very high population density without the typical urban noise, danger and stress. Much of the 17th and 18th century city remains not as a museum but as a living, breathing, charming city as the city was once defined: a place for people. We love riding our bikes here… with our kids, dogs, SO’s, to work, to the pub, to school or just for the sake of riding!

It’s still true. The world around us is experiencing a surge in bicycle advocacy, people desperate for more ‘active transportation’ in an often hostile car-dependent society, while the Dutch take their achievements mostly for granted, both nationally and in international context. Amsterdam has a strong case to push aside the aged cheese, tulip & windmill (and pot & prostitution) associations, emphasizing its livability by embracing the bicycle as main transportation. The Netherlands as a whole could also do with a little shedding on that front. Right now ‘we’ are not doing enough.

The end game of successful bicycle policies is that nobody will have to think twice about getting on a bike. Young and old, rich and poor.

It’s just the logical thing to do.

In short, feel…

On the threshold of summer & inspired by my own personal travels on the road to love, I give you the very best of my ‘Love Is…Bike’ photo series.

>

As for us, correlation really does imply causation…:)

Alert. Old post draft coming to life. Hiya, good people, how have you been. Thank you, I’ve been good, too. Lots has happened since the last Amsterdamize entry, but we’ll cover that, one post at a time.

First: just before I took off for Florida & NOLA earlier this month, the Giro d’Italia had taken over the city. Lots of anticipation, promotions, fun & games, and of course the mandatory cutting-the-city-in-half-and-walling-it-off. ‘Cutting it in half’ actually applied to the streets as well, one half for the lycra-boys & girls, the other available to visitors and Amsterdammers, going about their way.

A curious peek

‘Niet normaal’ | ‘Not normal’

I think it’s safe to say the people of Amsterdam weren’t more (or less) thrilled about the Giro than any other event hitting the city (and there are many). They’d stop and glance here and there, sure. But I observed many who more interested in the time the fences would open than in anything else.

Level of lycra sky-rocketed that day, obviously

You can call it blasé and I will say that Amsterdam is spoiled in that regard. Of course an event like this is good for the city, promotion, tourism, etc. You’d think that this being a bicycle event in the Netherlands, the Dutch would be lining up to see it. Nope. Along the route I think there was an average of two rows of spectators. Saying it was more would be pushing it.

In any case, the bike parade (by locals) was the highlight of the Prologue. Yeah, well, what can I say, I’m an Amsterdammer.

The real reason I actually captured this parade, is that I wanted to cross this street to attend the Bicycle Film Festival in Tuschinski, but couldn’t. The little time I had left when I got there was fun enough, seeing some familiar faces, aka fellow Dutch bike lovers.

But alas, I had a dinner party to go to. Parking my bike there, I was greeted by yet another balloon, this one tied to a scooter. Oh, if only…

In early February of this year Antoine Sachs of ARTE TV from Paris arrived in Amsterdam on his tour around this country to document Dutch bicycle culture, infrastructure and more. He was particularly interested to talk to me about the ‘trouble in bicycle paradise’, being bike theft and parking problems. The first is huge, but on the decline, the latter is ever persistent with the rising cycle rates.

I was happy to host Antoine, show him around and highlight a few aspects on camera. This weekend he e-mailed me to tell me his video series about cycling in the Netherlands was finished and online on his blog ‘Chronicles Of My Carbon-Free Life‘.

I hope your French is good, because, as is still customary in France, it’s all dubbed. No big hurdle, as the footage will tell a clear enough story. Enjoy.

On Thursday, April 23 I pedaled off to go to Shirley Agudo’s book signing at the Waterstones store, in conjuction with Book Night. It being a beautiful day, I didn’t rush and snapped a few shots before entering. Still, I got there early enough to spot famous & fabulous Fabiola approaching the book store on his/her bike.

See, he/she wasn’t on the cover of ‘Bicycle Mania‘ for nothing :). It was great finally meeting Shirley and fellow-photographer Trevor Waldron, talk Amsterdam bike culture…well, actually, not culture, more about our own hows, whats and whys.

Perhaps because of that evening, I took my time, more than usual, when I hit the streets the next day.

On Sunday I met up with David Bernstein, host of The FredCast, ‘a weekly podcast devoted to the latest cycling news, gear, gadgets, gizmos, components, podsafe cycling music and more’, based in of Park City, Utah.

He was in town on business and seized the opportunity to go for a ride with me. No need for a rental bike, as he’d brought his own speedy Dahon folder.

We sat down in the Jordaan, had a great talk about a whole range of things-to-do-with-cycling and finally landed in Vondelpark to record a new episode: ‘Show #151: Amsterdamize!‘ (interview starts at 29:41). The rest is now ramblin’ history ;).

The rest of the day offered me some more observations, not to be ignored.

And last but not least, Queen’s Day came and went. Life is grand, never a dull moment.