Friday 25 February 2011

Another view from the cycle path

We’ve got something to tell you. “We”? you might think… Yes, David has asked me to join him on his blog. My name is Mark Wagenbuur. For regular visitors that could already be a familiar name. Inspired by David’s blog I started making videos showing Dutch cycling infrastructure about two years ago. I published these videos on my YouTube channel. David has shown you quite a lot of them along with his insightful comments. At his request I have also written one guest post as background information to go with one of the more in depth videos. David has recently invited me to make our cooperation a bit more formal. An invitation I gladly accepted. After some thought we agreed that I will take up the role of ‘regular guest poster’.

Since I will only be a guest poster there will be no major changes to the blog. Nor with its affiliations to "Dutch Bike bits" or "Hembrow Cycle Holidays". David will continue to give you his sharp analysis of everything concerning cycling, especially by comparing the situation in the UK and the Netherlands. But you will occasionally see a blog entry “published by Mark Wagenbuur”, giving you another view from the cycle path. You can take that quite literally; since I live in the south of the Netherlands (’s-Hertogenbosch), a part of the country that can sometimes be very different from the Assen region in the north-east where David lives. I use my second bicycle every day in Utrecht where I work and I also visit Amsterdam regularly, which are the fourth largest and the largest city in the Netherlands respectively. Assen, although growing rapidly, is not even in the top 20 of the larger Dutch cities, so some things work out quite differently there. As a native Dutchman I have also cycled a bit longer in this country than David has. My main focus will remain to be on video making but from now on I will also try to use words to show you something of cycling in Netherlands. Also on behalf of David I hope you will enjoy our (further) cooperation.

20 comments:

David Hembrow said...

It worked ! It's excellent to have you writing here too, Mark.

Bicilenta said...

Welcome to this excellent blog!

Paul van Bellen said...

Cool Mark.... welcome and thanks for giving me many hours of joy watching your videos... I show all my friends!
Cheers,
Paul (Sydney , Australia)

rtaintor said...

Wonderful! This blog and the videos that you both present are great resources, and I look forward to your posts.

John in NH said...

Excellent! Welcome aboard! I love your videos and look forward to commentary from a slightly different perspective, for sure!

inconvenient_truth said...

Great that you've joined forces with David, Mark. I really enjoy, and constantly post, your videos.

Micheal Blue said...

Mark, very good. The voice of Dutch cycling is now in stereo :-)

Paul Martin said...

This is exciting news! Welcome, Mark. Your films are excellent, clear & unambiguous. You and David make a good team.

Cheers,

amoeba said...

Welcome Mark!

Kevin Love said...

Mark,

Thank you for a set of wonderful videos. They have touched off a serious case of "Dutch envy" here in Toronto.

It is my sincere prayer that as Toronto implements its plans to improve its cycle infrastruture that Dutch standards will be the benchmark of excellence used.

They are certainly the ones that I am pushing for as a member of the Toronto Cyclists Union.

Severin said...

This is wonderful news! My favorite blogger teams up with my favorite youtube user! Th multiple perspectives, and range of topics the two of you will be able to provide will be much to look forward to.

Also, I find it interesting you were inspired by David to start the youtube videos. I found both your videos and David's blog about a year ago, and would have guessed the two of you just so happened to be doing the same thing at the same time... fun to know the origin.

Can't wait see your writing here, and certainly look forward to your excellent videos!

Anonymous said...

Dear Mark,

I thing it's a splendid idea to start posting comments. I live in The Hague, a city that is - compared to other Dutch cities - not the most bicycle friendly, although the situation is getting better last years. I always read David's blog for new ideas and I sometimes use his comments and your videos when I send suggestions to the municipality of The Hague.

Marcel (The Hague)

Maggie said...

Mark,

I love your videos and look forward to your posts on this blog.

Joost Bonsen said...

Fantastic to see Another View too! Among other things, I especially value your video comparisons of historical situation with the present via video and would certainly appreciate extra commentary and pointers beyond the videos.

--Joost

marcelkuyper said...

I appreciate Marks video with good practice solutions. In the city region of The Hague you can find situations that are not so perfect. Take this one from the city of Rijswijk near The Hague:

http://www.westonline.nl/video/nieuws/7011

Michael S said...

That's just great :-) Davids analysis and your videos have inspired me a lot so far. Looking forward to some synergy...

Mark W. said...

What a welcome! Thank you all for your kind comments. I'd better get to work... :-)

Anonymous said...

I've greatly enjoyed David's postings, and Mark's videos, and I look forward to seeing Mark's additional insight on this blog.

You have both inspired me - partly! - to pay a recent trip to the Netherlands, to see conditions for cycling there for myself.

I've written a brief report about what I saw in Utrecht here, http://bit.ly/i4nk15.

I sincerely hope we start moving in this direction in the UK.

Arnie and Jo said...

As a semi-regular reader of David's blog, I have enjoyed viewing your contributions, too. Look forward to many more.

David said...

Mark, you're a great addition to a great blog. I can't tell you how much you've both inspired me to campaign for Dutch-style cycling infrastructure in the UK. I'm always sending links to your videos to people - seeing is believing. Keep up the good work!