I don’t commute to work every day by bicycle. It really depends on the weather as the trip takes roughly 40 minutes cycling one way. In the rain this is bad. But when there’s no rain, it’s manageable especially because the whole of the Netherlands is as flat as a pancake. This morning was windy, though, which I see as the Dutch equivalent of mountains—because with no hills to cut the force of the wind, it can feel like cycling up a steep hill. The first leg of last year’s Tour de France headed through Zeeland, which is notorious for its winds, so I am not exaggerating.
I took a different route to work this morning. I usually take a route that’s very packed, with hundreds of cyclists doing their thing: passing each other, talking on their mobiles, catching up on gossip, taking the kids to school, etc. But today, I saw fewer than 10 cyclists along the way.
This is a small clip of a suited guy in front of me. I have to admit, I love seeing business guys cycle because this would be a rare sight during the morning commute in America, where latex cycling gear prevails. But here, yuppies ride bikes as often as the unemployed. There is no real cycling subculture to speak of because cycling is the culture! Notice the bikes galore we pass on your average street:
Commuting by bike, you also get to see some cool sights you couldn’t see in a car:
'Dam Bike Betty 