One of the first weekends of 2010 with lovely weather brought out all the cyclists in the Netherlands. Young, old, racers, whole families, groups of friends and grandparents with grandchildren. We see children in a child’s seat on (grand)mother’s bike but we can see a lot of children on their own mini-bicycles too. Sometimes gently pushed by a parent.

    It seems the Dutch just had to cycle at the free Pentecost weekend.

    Note the difference of the bikes compared to the Dutch commuting bicycles. In the weekend the Dutch are out and about on their better bicycles with gears and handle bar brakes. Not everyone uses an upright bike either. And we even see some lycra and a few helmets.

    36 Comments

    1. Wikipedia puts the population density of the Netherlands higher than India and China, and yet the absence of typical city noise in these bucolic scenes is amazing.

    2. it can get annoying though if you want to ride faster than 30km/ph on these paths as you're constantly being held up by groups of wobbly kids/oldies etc riding slowly. I love the idea of these green, segregated paths, but it would annoy me on days I want to get some speed and have fun.

    3. @Rondiddlyon yes and no,, everyone at least has one good bicycle for them self. And it get used often. But you also have moments that you need to put your bicycle at a train station. And then it mostly is an old one. Because when someone steels a bicycle it would be better if it's an old one and beside that an old one doesn't get stolen as fast as a good bicycle with gears etc. :O but that doesn't mean the whole family has a second bike some even share an old one.

    4. @elstado1
      Well, I'm sure lots of cardrivers get really annoyed at having to slow down to 30 km'/hr in residential areas. I'm sure they'd love to live in one of those car ads, a single open road all to themselves, no pesky 'other people' to clog up THEIR roads.

      All I can say is that I'm glad my country doesn't pander to aso's like that.

    5. For your information: The sheep at 6.20 are only allowed on the bike path because their speed is limited to 25km/h. For that reason helmets are not mandatory for them,
      in case you were wondering…

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