This web page was a hoot! The author was in Amsterdam for a vacation and sat for just over an hour taking photos in a particular square. In that span of time he took 82(!) different photos of locals riding bikes. You'd never find that here in the States. If you don't have a lot of time just have a quick look through the pictures and try not to feel too embarrassed that we Americans drive everywhere for everything. Now I'm even more inspired to dust off my cruiser, pump up the tires and go on an errand somewhere. I put one of my favorite images above, of the woman in high heels toting her boyfriend on the rear rack (ouch! but apparently quite common). I don't know how comfortable I'd be riding without a helmet, as all Amsterdam-ers seem to do, but in a more bike-friendly city it's probably not really a big deal. Reading through some of the comments at the bottom, it sounds like the huge cargo/child carrier "buckets" are a fairly new phenomenon and are actually being reviewed for safety. Of course, there does have to be a flaw in the perfect bike city of Amsterdam. Apparently bike theft is extremely common (one comment called it "the second national sport") and most of the bikes you see have huge, heavy bike chain locks and sometimes even more than one lock, plus they're usually modified so as to make them more easily recognizable if it does get stolen. Sad.
2 comments:
That's exactly how it is.. fabulous isn't it!!!!
Great picture! Japan and China are really into biking. They have whole sections of the roads for bikes and in Bejiing there is even traffic in the bike section. Can you believe it? I couldn't.
A big reason is people just can't afford cars. But isn't it so much better for the environment and our bodies?
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