Netherlands

You may have gathered that I got a new bike. It’s a Pashley Roadster Sovereign. That’s not a photo of my actual bike, but one just like it. I’m waiting for a decent sunrise over the sea to take my own photos and scoop the EcoVelo photograph prize. After much agonising, I’ve gone with my first...
Read more »

I’ve never taken part in a critical mass event. Heck, I’ve never even seen one first hand, so what I’m about to say could just be me talking out of my backside. I have a bit of a problem with the idea of critical mass. The anarchist within me says, “Yeah! Right on! Let’s really...
Read more »

I remember about, oh, eight years ago, I gave up my three vices for Lent - caffeine, chocolate and alcohol. It’s not that I’m religious at all, but denial of the senses is certainly good for the soul. Or whatever we have if we don’t have souls. I was expecting the end result of all...
Read more »

After yesterday’s post about how nice and straight the path alonside the Coast Road is, I got thinking about nice direct routes, and traffic-free routes in general. It’s just so much quicker to get to the centre of Newcastle by going direct, rather than the routes I usually take, that I struggle to understand why...
Read more »

You can’t say that we don’t ask the big questions here! So. Here’s my problem. I have this image in my mind of a point in the future, where there’ll be integrated networks for people on bikes in all British towns and cities. It will be possible to get pretty much from your front door...
Read more »

OK - first off, please go and read this first rate article by Andy in Germany - Car Free Struggles. When you’re done, and have left a suitable comment, come back here and read the rest of this post. You’re back? Good. Here’s my question for you: Really, how hard is it to ride your bike...
Read more »

I have a love/hate relationship with bike lanes and cycle tracks. Too often, they’re like the little girl from the nursery rhyme. She rode down the street on a bike that she’d borrowed, When bike lanes were good, they were very, very good, But when they were bad, they were horrid. OK, so I’ll probably wait a long...
Read more »

The question posed today by the Fat Lad, which I picked up via The Bicycle Diaries was, Are dedicated bike lanes protecting you from cagers or treating cyclists as 2nd class road users? It’s one of those subjects like the ‘H’ word that’s sure to generate a stack of opinions, usually backed up with Science. Real...
Read more »

So after yesterday’s post about how happy people on bikes are, here’s the flip side. Sometimes - often, it seems - something happens when you’re out cycling that just presses all the wrong buttons. These things can range to the irritating and inconsiderate, to the downright scary and dangerous. If you ride...
Read more »

I don’t have time to write much tonight, but I’ve just got to post this - via Marc at Amsterdamize.com. It’s a slide from “a presentation given by Hans Voerknecht, International Director of Fietsberaad, the Dutch Bicycle Council. It is, by itself, a pretty awesome slide - a pretty clear ‘win’ for bikes on...
Read more »