A different take on cycling

A bike parking in front of a home

We recently returned from a bike and barge trip in Holland and Belgium. Of course I had heard about the prevalence of bicycles but it was hard for me to imagine how important bikes are to everyday life there.

Bike with a kiddie seat in front

Everywhere we went we saw bicycles and not just one or two, bike lanes and pathways were crowded with bicycles. There were special traffic lights for bikes, and many many miles of beautiful pathways in the countryside. Our guide told us that kids in The Netherlands ride bikes from the time they are small.  They ride to school in all seasons and in all weather because that's the only way to get there. Dutch bikes are thoughtfully designed for everyday transportation. They have plastic chain guards so you don't get your clothing dirty and some have platforms welded to the front to support boxes or bags of groceries. For children too small to ride their own bikes there are seats in front of the adult rider.

We saw the lycra-clad folks on road bikes whizzing along in neat lines outside the cities but most of the folks on bikes were in ordinary street clothes.  There were gangs of teenage boys riding together and laughing loudly, seemingly delighted to pass the odd-looking tourists in their helmets. Only the roadies seem to wear helmets in The Netherlands. There were women with bags of groceries on their bikes. There were construction workers in their heavy boots, hard hats and reflective vests.  We saw women cycling in high heels and folks older than we are out on their bikes on the canal paths. On a ferry we met four people who were cycling to a nearby town for lunch on a Sunday afternoon.

Toinne parking our bikes on the higher level in the garage

Then there are the bike garages. We parked in one that had 4500 spaces and that wasn't the largest one in the country. In Utrecht the main garage will eventually hold 12, 500 bikes and, as The Guardian reports in this article, some think it will be too small. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/07/worlds-biggest-bike-parking-garage-utrecht-netherlands

The big bike parkades are located near the central train stations so that people can park their bikes and then take the train.  Some people have two bikes, one to get from home to the train and one to get from the train to work. They ride in the rain and in the snow and hop on their bikes as we would hop in our cars. Car drivers are used to cyclists and they wait patiently behind until there is room to pass, even if there is a line of 20 cyclists on a narrow rural road.

A bike parkade

The Netherlands, of course, is a smaller country than Canada. There are  approximately 17 million people in The Netherlands and 36 million in Canada.  The area of The Netherlands is around 42,000 km2 while the area of Alberta is roughly 662,00 km2 so there are more people in a smaller area to make use of the infrastructure. I can't help wondering if the city of Calgary, for instance, could ever be more like Amsterdam in the way it accepts and provides for cycling as a way of life. There is sometimes the heavy snowfall and cold temperatures but there are still usually 6 months where the pavement is free of ice and, during the winter, the city does clear some of the more heavily used pathways into the downtown core. I wonder what it takes to create a culture where a bike isn't either for kids, roadies or people who want to ride on mountain trails.

Maybe the terrain also has something to do with it. Holland and Belgium are not 'flat' but the hills are relatively gradual. I found I could easily tackle most of them by hanging back from the cyclists ahead, shifting to a lower gear and the powering up the hill. The steepest hills seemed to be coming off ferries or climbing up to an overpass over a busy highway. Rarely did I need to shift gears in the middle of the hill and it was a totally different strategy than riding the hills at home where I tend to put the bike in a low gear, find a fairly low cadence so I can keep my feet moving and so I don't get too out of breath. The bikes we rode had 8 speeds and I found 6 sufficient for my needs.

Richard's noble steed for the trip

The bikes we rode were of a totally different design than our bikes at home and we wondered how we would adapt.  All have lower beams rather than the high bar of the triangular frame of the road or mountain bikes making it easier to mount and dismount. The riding position is more upright, perfect for sight-seeing without crooking your neck. Our bikes had gearing in an internal rear hub and a grip shift to change gears.

Since coming back from Holland I'm trying to regard my bike differently, as a vehicle for transportation as well as a vehicle for recreation and fitness. I don't think I'll ever get to the point where I see the bike as my primary mode of transportation but I now consider the possibility of riding to pick up a few groceries or to an appointment. I don't have to go fast and I don't necessarily have to put on all my bike duds. I do wear a helmet which most of the Dutch and Flemish riders didn't. I also wear my cycling shoes since I like the clipless pedals on my bike. One of the things that drove me slightly crazy on the bikes we rode was I couldn't clip in and pull up on the pedal to get it to the correct level for starting off.

I enjoyed the trip and I'm intrigued by what it would be like to live in a bicycle-centric culture.  I also wonder what the rate of head injuries in Holland is compared to Canada where helmets are more common. Are the Dutch more skilled riders since they ride almost from birth?  Are the speeds slower so injuries are less severe? That's something I'll have to investigate. In the meantime it was an eye-opening trip to a small country with rich agriculture, great art and miles and miles of places to cycle.

Simple Gifts

It's a snowy day, not absolutely frigid but cold enough that it's nice to be indoors in comfortable fleece clothing. It's getting close to Christmas. We haven't put up our tree yet and I haven't done any Christmas shopping so gifts are on my mind. I have a folder in my brain in which I store the surprise gifts I have received from strangers and acquaintances and as I think of giving gifts i go back to that folder.

The first gift in my collection was given to me when I was in my early 20's. I was living in Banff and had a rare day off from my duties in the theatres at the Banff School of Fine Arts. At that time I didn't own a car and used a bright purple ten-speed bike for transportation. On that particular day, I decided to ride my bike from Banff to Lake Minnewanka. I'm not sure of the distance but it wasn't a long ride as I've since come to understand them. I wasn't in particularly good shape and it was a hot day. On my way back from the lake, tired and hot, I stopped at the pullout of a scenic lookout. I was sitting on a picnic table with my bike leaning beside me drinking warm plastic-tasting water from my water bottle when a woman came out of a motor home parked a few feet away from where I sat. I didn't pay too much attention as the woman approached me. In her hand she held a plastic bag of cherries. As l looked up she smiled and handed me the bag. "We have more of these than we can eat," she said, "and you look like you could use them." She smiled. I thanked her. She stepped back into the motor home; the driver started the engine and they pulled onto the highway to continue their journey. The cherries were cold and I was hungry and, although I have long since forgotten the woman's face, I will always remember her kindness.

A number of years later when Richard, my cousin David and I were on a cycling trip in southern B.C. it was another hot day. While the guys stayed with the bikes I went into a small roadside store to buy cold drinks. I also picked up some fresh fruit for a snack. When I brought my purchases to the counter the man behind it told me that the fruit would be free and apologized that he couldn't really afford to give me the drinks for free because of what they cost him. "Anyone who rides in this heat deserves a bit of a break," he told me as he rang up the drinks. I thanked him and filed his kindness alongside the lady with the cherries.

There have been times recently too where people have given me unexpected gifts. One day as I was pulling into a pay lot and getting out of my car to buy a ticket from the machine, a young man walked over and offered me his ticket. It still had quite a bit of time on it he said and someone might as well use it. Since then I always look for someone to whom I can give my ticket before I leave the lot. Sometimes no one appears and I drive home and discard the ticket. Most times, though, I'm able to give it to someone else so they can use the remaining time.

Twice a month I meet my friend Katharine downtown not far from where she works so we can have lunch together. I get there first and buy our lunches, always the same from the same stall in the food court. We've been doing this for over two years now, and while I wouldn't call myself a regular because I'm not there every day, one young woman behind the counter recognizes me and calls in the order as I approach. Twice lately she has leaned over the counter and said quietly, "Today the drinks are on the house." I smile, thank her and leave a tip. Does she give other customers free drinks on occasion? I don't know and it really doesn't matter. I am simply grateful.

The last example in my mental file arrived just a week ago. Judy and I were on our usual walk and we stopped in for lunch at a quiet cafe. We ordered our meals and took them to an empty table. I was facing the window and Judy was facing the counter. One of the women behind the counter caught Judy's eye and asked if we would like a piece of apple pie. Who turns down apple pie? It was a huge piece and we enjoyed sharing it. Perhaps it was getting late in the afternoon and the woman didn't want to keep the pie until the next day. Again I don't know the reason behind the gift and I don't need to know it. In part the gift is in the reminder of how little it takes to brighten someone's day.

I will eat turkey this Christmas as is traditional in our family but I will also think about cherries, cold drinks and apple pie and be thankful.