Bikesterdam

(Quintessential Dutch!)

Can bikes get tickets for speeding? I wondered about it this week as bicyclists were swooshing by and I tried to keep cool on the Amsterdam bike lanes. I know, I can't stop talking about how great it is to ride your bike here. 

I am convinced biking makes people feel closer and more connected to each other. When you ride your bike, you have to look other people in the eyes. When you are in a car, you can't see other people's faces and smiles. Though bicyclists seem a little aggressive here, they can also be surprisingly friendly and courteous. When I hop on my bike in the morning, the exercise and adrenaline usually make sure I have a silly smile on my face in no time.  And I see the same thing happen with other people in the street: lots of people on bikes smile as if they just had sex. 

Bikes are also great equalizers. Everyone rides bikes in the Netherlands, rich and poor, young and old. In the US, when you ride a bike, it generally means you may have had an alcohol problem and you have to get to work without a driver's license for a while. Or it means you're really poor and had to sell your car. Or it means you are a lesbian living on Valencia St, tattooed from head to toe. Here in Amsterdam, you don't have to be particularly poor or baked or hip to ride a bike. Even people in business suits look like they were born on a bike. 

It's true though that the locals are very unwelcoming to tourists who generally ride red and yellow rental bikes. The view of heavy rental bikes seems to bring out the worst in the Amsterdammers. They ride even more ruthlessly when they see them as if to show who owns the place. I usually feel bad for these hapless newbies who get yelled at the whole time. 

The Dutch are particularly "flink" (sturdy and brave) on their bikes. I have seen a couple of people fall off their bikes the last weeks -- sometimes because they were hit by another cyclist. Every time, I expected at least some drama. But no. They smiled, looked around and got on their bikes again. I spoke with one of our movers about it a week ago. And he said: "Oh no, it's not that we're so "flink," it's pride that keeps us smiling when we fall off our bikes. We usually get going again very quickly to go cry around the corner where no one can see us."

And even though I am really fond of the bicyclists here, the speed can be overwhelming. Bikes are sometimes like missiles here in Amsterdam. It's not for nothing that there are speed bumps on some bike lanes. I think it's to make sure not everyone rides like Annelien. I am pretty sure she will soon be pulled over by a cop on a bike.