BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

Nice article. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for sharing. I recently had the pleasure of biking from Amsterdam to the North Sea and back through the airport - all on separated cycle paths!

I love the idea of being able to bike in one's work/everyday clothes like they do. I feel so schlubby in my workout clothes. I also love my upright/crank-forward bike so much that I'm considering getting a good quality Dutchie. They're easy on my old bones.

Rusty Red, just in case you weren't already familiar, Momentum Magazine is exactly on your wavelength; http://momentummag.com/features/4-tips-for-selecting-and-upright-bike/

I highly recommend this book if you're interested in the subject. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13623832-in-the-city-of-bikes Amsterdam cyclists helped resist the Nazis!

edmonds59 wrote:Rusty Red, just in case you weren’t already familiar, Momentum Magazine is exactly on your wavelength; http://momentummag.com/features/4-tips-for-selecting-and-upright-bike/

They sure are! Thanks!

Cycling in the US from a Dutch perspective http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=m2THe_10dYs http://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2013/06/20/us-cycling-from-a-dutch-perspective/

I still don't understand why lycra and racing type are not good signs for bicycling. I am gladly combine my commuting (when I can) with my physical activity.

I think it creates an illusion of barrier to entry. While an experienced cyclist can move faster and more efficiently when dressed and postured aerodynamically, there is really no *need* for such measures to enjoy a bicycle or use one to get around town. I imagine quite a number of people could leisurely bike to work or around town but are put off by the idea of being hunched over uncomfortably in odd clothing.

andyc wrote:there is really no *need* for such measures to enjoy a bicycle or use one to get around town.

I completely agree with it. I thought that clothes is a personal choice. There is no need but if someone wants/prefers to use it then it still should not be considered as a bad sign.

Street protests, die-ins, etc helped the Netherlands get its bicycling infrastructure. In the 1960s and 70s, after the rising number of cars on Dutch streets resulted in over 400 child deaths by car per year, nationally, there were grass-roots protests that got the attention of the politicians. See this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuBdf9jYj7o This nice historical video about “How the Dutch got their cycle paths” concludes: “To sum it up: What caused the changes in the Netherlands [resulting in so many bike paths]? There were the problems of cities that couldn’t cope with the increasing traffic that led to demolitions and to a public outrage over the amount of space handed over to motorized traffic. An intolerable number of traffic deaths that again led to mass public protests. An oil crisis and an economic crisis that led to gas shortages and high prices of energy. A solution was found in the political will on a national and municipal level with both decision makers and planners to deal with the situation. By turning away from car-centric policies and making way for alternative transport, like cycling. Cycling is now an integral part of transport policies.” Discussion of the video: http://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2011/10/how-dutch-got-their-cycling.html That graph (of all road deaths, not just cyclist deaths) from http://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2011/04/netherlands-traffic-deaths-down-again.html ( the above was cut & pasted from http://localhost/mb/topic/another-day-another-cyclist-hit-another-month-another-cyclist-dead/page/3/#post-278312 and http://localhost/mb/topic/the-out-of-town-news-thread/page/6/#post-278138 )