Netherlands By Bike Series👉 https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL49bxTPhfjjlKx9RQY-HgREh4CE6J8xH2&si=0dBA_yVeU8G1lrSd
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0:00 Netherlands Bike Trip Day 5
0:34 Motorway Turned into Canal
2:01 Utrecht is amazing
2:36 Miffy Intersection Vredenburg
2:55 Oudegracht Canal
3:28 Stationsplein Utrecht Centraal Bike Parking Garage
5:34 Safe Bicycle Parking Matters
6:36 Cycling Utrecht to Amsterdam
7:30 Tough Riding
9:38 Thanks for watching you beautiful people.
47 Comments
Shout out to Mark Wagenbuur of Bicycle Dutch. He has posted a treasure trove of knowledge that has helped me in many of my videos. Especially this one.
https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/
This is making me want to try biking across the Netherlands myself. Maybe next year if I can make it.
Utrecht before tourism destroyed it. Simple as that.
Excellent video. Very informative.
I like your style.
I used to work in Utrecht for a bit. Cycling directly from the next intercity train stop over, Amersfoort, was just as fast for me as taking public transport (bicycle, train, bus (or walk)). I arrived in a better mood at the office by bike, albeit a bit sweaty.
I see you found my home town 😊
There used to be more parts of the Vredenburg castle visible in the past, in the area where the Muziekcentrum is now.
I always say to people that if you really want to experience the Netherlands you should go to Utrecht instead of Amsterdam
I'm often go for work to Utrecht and it might be my favorite Dutch city. Not too big, not too touristy, a lot of different restaurants/shops and good transportation.
8:25 that drone remote on the phone holder is some next level shit
2:42 Nijntje is known as Miffy in the English speaking world and goes by many names all over the planet. Nijntje is shoort for konijntje or little rabbit and creator Dick Bruna was from Utrecht. There is also the Nijntje pleintje, a little square somewhat hidden in the city center.
I really enjoyed this series. I will be moving to the Netherlands in a few months and I´m very much looking forward to doing these kind of trips myself!
The windmill at 09:22 is called the 'Broekzijdse molen', build in 1641 and one of the windmills near the river 'Het Gein' that was painted by a guy called Piet Mondriaan.
Unfortunately, they did bulldoze an entire city district together with the draining of the canal.
It was 12 roads next to each other in the photo you showed, but most other places is was only 4 or 6, I wouldn't call it a '12 lane motorway'. However, it's very nice that they put the canal back.
The past decade or 15 years there has been a bit of competition between cities in a combination of infrastructure solutions and city marketing. So you got cities like Utrecht building show off cycling infrastructure, just like Copenhagen did. Of course Amsterdam is not the cycling capital of the world, every Dutchman who has ever cycled there knows it's not very good for cycling. Utrecht is biggest city in the Netherlands with good cycling, so I guess that makes it the cycling capital of the world.
But Groningen has been so since the late 70's, not by buidling cycling infrastructure, but by reducing and calming car traffic on the existing infrastructure with signs and fines and all kinds of nudges. The cycling has expanded and increased from the city centre outwards over time and cycling infrastructure followed, but it's still much more organic and not with many big show off projects, but more with lots of sensible small interventions, using what has been there for ages. It's really different from the big projects in cities like Rotterdam and Utrecht from the past 15 years. Groningen started a lot earlier, and went more gradual from there.
People from utrecht arent to happy with the recent infrastructure changes
I always find it amusing that the Catharijnesingel is basically a go to talking point for foreigners talking about Dutch urbanism and cycling infrastructure, I rarely see Dutch people talk about it.
I don't really like the place, there's too much brick and pavement and too little soil and green, it's especially unpleasant on a sunny summer day.
i live in brussels, damn i wish we had this mind set in urbanism, here the people are still extremely car centered i'm afraid i wont see meaningful change for a while. i mean it move in a positive direction but its so small and slow…
fun to see you ride through my hometown, and glad you liked the views ^^ the castle you encountered is a well renowned (and expansive) business university, with the campus being one of the castle buildings, and a massive back yard used for hunting back in the days
Fun fact, it was water in the past. They made a motorway out of it. Basically now it's restored to former glory
Mannekenpis is named after the Belgium little hero and the name is in fact Flemish 🙂 Great video.
Lovely to see Utrecht here! And indeed, a crappy bike is a truely authentic experience. I notice you rode the (Amsterdamse)straatweg – basically road to Amsterdam, built by order of Napoleon. Or at least a long stretch of it. If you ever go again, go along the river Vecht. Back in the day rich people from Utrecht and Amsterdam would have their summer homes there, many of them are still standing. And then go past/through the Loosdrechtse plassen. Longer but prettier route.
If you want hills, you need to go east of Utrecht, they go up like to 20-30 meters there easily! 😉
Hi Nick great video thanks!
You might be interested to know that a part of a speedboat chase through the canals of Amsterdam, in the Dutch movie "Amsterdamned" from 1988, was actually shot on the Oudegracht in Utrecht (3.01 in your video).
See if you can spot it, enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1PZAfdYwQ0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fePpwYCs_JM
Utrecht is one of my favorite dutch cities. Great video!
At first i was skeptical, like 'a more authentic experience' but the truth is that many within-town commuters ride the most shitty bikes imaginable so it's not the end of the world if they get stolen when you park them at a train station. Though the between-town commuters ride nicer stuff. Electrics, or outright road racing bikes to bump up your average speed from like 15km/h on a crappy city bike to 25-30km/h on a sporty bike. If your commute is 15km single way, it's well worth it to shave down about a third of your cycling time.
Because if it's not a heavily guarded high traffic parking spot, they WILL get stolen eventually. I lost 3 bicycles to theft so far. Twice at a train station, once in the centre of Amsterdam. right in front of a hotel. Sucks, but can't do much about it. I have a fairly nice commuter these days because i also do longer trips on it (multiple hours a day) so i'm using a motorcycle chain lock, in the hope the bike next to me is more attractive and less wel secured.
Recommendation when parking: take a picture of where you've left the bike, both the row number and the spot on the row. They are all numbered.
Many Dutch have two bikes: a nice shiny long-distance bike, and an old rickety “city bike” that will not get stolen as quick. You caught a city bike!
Locally the motorway was known as "de snelweg van niks naar nergens". In English "the motorway from nothing to nowhere".
Worst episode of the series. Could have skipped Utrecht. You absolutly said nothing new about it than other bike channels already did. Not even mention (altough showing) that you can sit next to the waterlevel at the canals. There is no place in Amsterdam were you can do that. Fact: (you could have found that too) to get from the Dom in Utrecht to the Dam in Amsterdam, it is 44 km by bike and 56 km by car. It is only the A2 motorway, that makes the car faster in time…
Sorry dat ik het zeg maar je heb een stads fiets,deze is minder geschikt voor toertochten, je had beter een kunnen nemen met breder banden rijd. Wat beter .
Cycling all over the place on a beat up bike is probably the most authentic Dutch experience you can get. 😀
We've all done that.
The only thing missing is getting soaked to your skin in a random summer storm.
North American municipal government: We can't sell 20+ year infrastructure projects to our residents! That's political suicide!
Dutch municipal government: Let's goooooooooooooooooo!
7:24 that castle is actually a university…
Iron rule every Dutchie knows from an early age : when riding a bike you always have headwind.
Going to school : headwind. Going home from school : headwind.
Going to work : headwind. Going home from work : headwind.
And not just headwind, but always a stiff breeze. And some rain or sleet thrown in if you are lucky.
Well, 'we aren't made of sugar'.
8:48 you actually found the famous Dutch mountains…. headwind
“The other canal…” is not a kanaal in Dutch, but a gracht. Named De Oude Gracht. I don’t know a word for gracht in English. Grachten are ancient water infrastructure, canals are more recent built.
You would never have a gracht for a modern riverboat. They are in Europe, and certainly in The Netherlands 110 meter long, and can transport 350 metric ton stuff. We have canals for that kind of transport though.
Just here to correct you, the canal got restored. Don't forget we first removed it and put that road there.
> "Netherlands by Bike"
> * Doesn't leave Holland/Randstad area *
sad_provincial_noises.mp3
The "NK Tegenwindfietsen" is the annual open Dutch Championship that takes place during a storm (wind force 7 or higher) over the Oosterscheldekering over a distance of approximately 9 kilometers.
The cyclists cycle against the wind on men's bicycles without gears and with coaster brakes provided by the organization. If a storm is approaching, the championship is announced three days in advance and people can register.
200 individual cyclists can participate. Participants start thirty seconds apart and the one with the fastest time wins.
Female saddles are shorter and wider, while men's saddles tend to be narrower.
Regardless of sex, for day trips a female saddle is beter.
narrower and longer saddle is to give them that extra bit of room for pedalling in competision.
7:23 is actually the university of Nyenrode. Which carries high prestige in Netherlands for its business faculty. I am not sure whether you can randomly visit.
The castle you saw is "Nijenrode". It was first mentioned around 1260 AD, so it is very old, but during the centuries, many additions and rebuildings have taken place. It acquired its current shape and appearance during a major renovation around 1860.
Unfortunately, you cannot visit it because it is owned by a foundation. Today, it is a business university. Access to the beautiful 60-hectare park around it is limited. You should get information from the university before going there.
What a beautiful country, LOL the lemon bike yr riding just funny.
I remember the motorway, havn't seen the canal yet. And I'm Dutch!😮
It’s so fun to recognise some of these locations where I’ve cycled myself!
They are indeed the remnants of the Vredenburg castle. There are several other places you can see them. They have also layed it out in the streets with different colored stones.