Mr Mackintosh’s year 9 class in Australia had a few questions about cycling in the Netherlands. These videos are attempting to provide some answers.
Okay the next question was about weather now pretty much gotta say that the dutch do ride in whatever the weather conditions i’ve ridden in all sorts like snow hail sleet rain heavy winds at the moment you can see it’s a nice day but it is about four degrees that’s why i’m wearing a
Beanie and a scarf but it doesn’t deter people in fact this day sort of day at four degrees would be considered a really nice day for cycling so i would say the dutch cycling or weather in fact one thing that’s quite funny is that if a student comes to school dry when it’s
Raining they’ll often get hustled by their friends and say oh what did mommy or daddy drop you off today did they so there’s a really big culture especially in high school of basically no matter what cycling at school
22 Comments
We always get told most of the rain falls next to you not on you and yes we sometimes complain ofcourse, but we don't know any better. It is what we are used at especialy with our weather that can change mutiple times a day. You deal with it.
We are not made of sugar, we don't melt
I always check buienradar before driving a bike, you can sometimes wait a few minutes so you dont get too wet.
I prefer do drive a bike than take the bus or other public transportation.
When you drive more than 10km or have to take a lot of stuff, than you can decide to take e.g. a car.
About the high school culture, totally true! The only students that get an exempt-pass are those that have to take 20+ km bus rides to school.
We always tell our kids when They got to cycle in rain…..”you are not Made out of Sugar are you?”
As a few others have said, "You are not made of sugar." Just don a raincoat if needs be, check your lights and go.
You will break your leg. Don't ask me how I know that..
I love this!
But a genuine question: how do the things in backpacks not get ruined? Are there special waterproof backpacks? Is it just accepted that stuff will get wet? Do kids (& adults for that matter) use something other than a backpack thats waterproof?
I've gotten into cycling for most things recently & on days like today in the rain, I'm going to take a car instead of bike. I'd like to use my bike in the future in all weather though.
Why do you bike so fast?
…bad weather…. the weather in your thumbnail is what i would class as the most beautiful weather you can have
I am Dutch and I can tell you: we DON'T have bad weather. Just weather…..
True haha my son is 4 and we bike to school w the Rain, in the dark, with alot of wind..u name it 😂
I remember an American colleague asking 'what do you do when it rains?' I just said 'you get wet'
This is so true.
I saw another cycling channel remark that he would take different transport when the weather was too bad. When I heard that, I though "WHAT other transport?"
If the weather is too bad for cycling, there is no other transport you could take. Except for electrical storms (there cars have an advantage), the car network is more sensitive to disruption due to weather than the cycle network. You can cycle over black ice, no problem. Just put your foot down in a corner and make sure it is your rear wheel that slides, not your front wheel (a sliding front wheel is an instant crash). You can also cycle around fallen trees, or clamber over them.
On days of bad weather, it are the cyclists that make it in to the office on time, not the motorists.
And remember, if you cycle and get cold, you are not cycling fast enough.
Even on freezing days, after 5-10 minutes (depending on the temperature) i would open my jacket to cool down.
Two things 'all' (i.e. a lot) Dutch children hear "Je bent toch niet van suiker" or regional equivalent ("You're not made of sugar are you?") and "Zie ik er uit als een taxi?" or the regional equivalent ("Do I look like a taxi?"), the latter most often spoken by the mother (I personally feel 😛 ).
The only weather the Dutch cyclists usually don't like 50% of the time is strong wind.
It's true but I hated every minute of cycling to and from school. On of the curious things was that the wind was always in your face, never in your back. How's that possible?
As a dutch I live in Switzerland and miss the bike culture. Sure, Switzerland is not too bad when it comes to bikelanes, but it is not embedded so much in the culture and not comparible to the Netherlands. I think no country, maybe except Danmark, is. I think it is very healthy for kids to get out of the comfort zone, and get intouch with cold and bad weather. I remember my youth camps at the boyscouts, making our kitchens ourselves from wooden pales, in the cold and then eating "erwtensoep", split pea soup, hope google translate does a good job here ;). Or coming home being cold drinking hot chocolate. It tast especially good after being outside in cold weather. Also you just feel more alive being outside with colder weather in my experience. Well, cold weather we have enough here in Switzerland in de winter, but I hike more outside in the many forests and hills of Switzerland in the wintertime then taking the bike. I also miss the old "dutch bikes" sitting straight up, which ofcourse is also less functionall here in Switzerland where almost any road tends to go up or down.
i remember the 26 trip i had to make to and from school. i lived in zeeland then. there was also a storm that day wind windforce 8 or 9 i believe. we just rode to school very slowly and sometimes we got blown into a ditch or some weird or funny situations would arrise i hated it but i also loved it because it was tough but also super fun at the same time, like a real adventure.
Nobody mentions the headwinds in The Netherlands?
When cycling you usually have headwind, rarely tailwind.
We have a saing about the weather as cyclist:S:tHERE IS NO BAD WEATHER, ONLY BAD CLOTHING.