What inspires Americans ?

Riding in the Netherlands from Bikes Belong on Vimeo.
Bikes Belong in the USA recently visited the Netherlands on a study trip and produced this film as well as an article entitled A Week of Biking Joyously.

On the resulting blog posts says of the statistics which surround cycling in the Netherlands that: Upon hearing these statistics it’s tempting to casually dismiss the entire Dutch cycling experience as irrelevant to our own, as if some exotic alien technology beyond our comprehension were responsible. I’m no biologist, but I’m pretty sure there is no unique bicycling gene only present in Dutch nationals that compels them to ride bikes way more than anyone else.

On the contrary, most of the factors that enable high levels of bicycle use in the Netherlands can be traced to deliberate (and replicable) human decisions. Consistent investment in high-quality infrastructure over the past four decades, policies favoring compact and diverse land use, comprehensive traffic safety education, economic and legal incentives; all of these work together make bicycling the fastest, easiest, cheapest and most logical way move around for short trips.

You’d be crazy not to ride a bike.

They also wrote other things after their return, such as how they'd seen bicycling being normal and how bikes are the right tool for the job, and there is also a very attractive presentation about the visit.

Click for cycling infrastructure study tour details

There is much work to be done in normalizing cycling in the USA. We have to hope that these people will help to keep the country on the right path.

Amsterdam video

A nice promotional video from Amsterdam. You'll see a good cross-section of cyclists. It could, of course, be anywhere in the Netherlands.

I first saw this video a while ago, but didn't get around to putting it on the blog. Judy saw it (again) today and said she liked it - good enough reason to put it here in case any of you had not seen it before.

Fietsparade Groningen

On Sunday, 20th of June (i.e. this Sunday coming) there's a Fietsparade in Groningen at the Vismarkt. This includes a tour through the city. The event lasts from one in the afternoon until about 4.

This comes after the opening of an exhibition about the Groninger bike manufacturer Fongers, who built bikes in the city from 1884 through to 1971. There will be demonstrations by unicyclists, BMX riders, cycle racers, cycle couriers and bakfietsen. There will also be a group of 100 old bikes ridden by members of De Oude Fiets, a nice group of people who preserve old bicycles. I made a video of one of their rides locally a couple of years ago:


What's more, the Fietsharmonisch Orkest is coming along. I saw this lot at SPEZI earlier this year:


And of course you're welcome on your bike too.

These days there is just one bicycle manufacturer left in Groningen. Sinner Ligfietsen, building a range of recumbent bikes and trikes including the rather wonderful Mango velomobile, and of course we'll be there too.

Update 21/6/2010
I didn't get any particularly good photos or videos. However, Wilfred did. This is his video, and there are photos on his blog.

A TV advert - and the type of bikes that sell most in the Netherlands

Just after I got home tonight my daughter called me to say that there was an ad on the TV that I should see. A few minutes later when I looked at my email, someone had sent me the link to the same. It's above.

The first guy says "Hey neighbour, ESP, ABS, fog lamps, 16 inch rims and 6 gears."

The second guy says "28 inch rims, 8 gears, high power lights and computer integrated in the steering. My wife and daughter have the same."

It's advertising for the bikes of course, in this case a a nice practical bike with everything built in and at the moment they're giving a free mid-week stay at centerparcs with each purchase.

There is a list of the top selling models on the Batavus website, and much like any mainstream Dutch bicycle manufacturer, these are the most popular models in order. First place is taken by the very traditional Old Dutch, a nicely put together traditional bike with back pedal brake and one gear. "As well as black, also available in today's trendy colours," for €400.

Second place is the Weekend. A higher specification bike (eight gears in the hub, aluminium frame, hub dynamo, built in computer etc.) intended for holidays, or indeed riding at weekends. It's the bike featured in the TV ad and sells for €850.

Third place is the Diva, a "fashiobike" with trendy flower prints, it is an upmarket town bike. The feature "make the Diva a fashion statement." It costs €670.

Fourth is the Mambo deluxe. This is a fully equipped Mamafiets, a class of bike with a greater distance between the saddle and steering in order to accommodate the child seat on the front - which is of course fitted as standard at the factory (or at the very least by the bike shop). It is sold to mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers. "Safe, rigid and comfortable. Enough room for getting on and off." That's the way it's sold. Price: €850

The fifth best selling model is the Padova Easy. This is an electric bike with the battery built into the frame. The only bike in this list with an exposed chain, though a closed chain version is also available. Often bought by retired couples in "his and hers" pairs, these bikes cost €2299 each.

Note how all the bikes come fully equipped with mudguards, chainguards (all but the last protecting the chain for year around use), locks, lights. Some models come with pumps and other things you might consider to be separately sold accessories in other parts of the world. Basically these have all the features of a practical everyday bike as I posted about previously.

Batavus do of course also sell racing bikes and mountain bikes, but naturally these sport bikes aren't the most popular models. Most people use their bikes for transportation, not sport. I'm quite surprised that none of the children's bikes make the list.

If you're interested in the type of components used on these bikes, and perhaps wish to transform your own bike to be more like the practical bikes ridden everyday by the Dutch, please visit our webshop which specializes in these parts and accessories.

Three upcoming events

We've three excellent events coming up in the next month.

First, on the 27th and 28th of March (i.e. my Birthday weekend !) there are the Dutch National Recumbent days.

Second, on the 31st of March is a really huge event. Heel Nederland Fietst is a three year round of cycle promotion which has just started. On the 31st there is an attempt at a world record for the largest number of people ever to have taken part in a simultaneous bike ride. The idea on this day is to get the entire population, or as much of it as possible, to ride a bike for at least half an hour between mid-day and one in the afternoon on Wednesday 31st March.

Thirdly the Northern Recumbent try out day is here in Assen on the 11th of April. It's just over a kilometre from home, so I'll be there.

Cycling promotion never ends. While there is a lot of cycling already here in the Netherlands, there's still not enough.

Get Cycling

We were visited this weekend by our friends Jim and Sally McGurn and their son Joseph. The McGurns run the York, UK based cycling promotion company Get Cycling and previously have been involved in many cycling ventures in the country such as the excellent Bike Culture Quarterly magazine and the Encycleopedia.

They combined visiting us with picking up some new bikes to add to their fleet, including the Conference Bike shown in the video, and got to try out some of our bikes while they were here.

More developments in 's-Hertogenbosch and Rotterdam

Via the Fietsberaad, I hear that 's-Hertogenbosch is to spend 16.5 million euros on cycling between now and 2015. 's-Hertogenbosch has a population of 136500 people, so this amounts to €120 per person - around €24 per person per year.

The money will be spent on new cycle paths, separating car routes from cycle routes (as seen here), more cycle parking, and tackling cycle theft. The intention to increase the cycling modal share in the city from the current 33% of all journeys to 44% of all journeys.

(Note that the relatively high figures for cycling modal share shown above are not reliable. They result from not including walking as a transport mode and only considering cycling within the city.)

After this has been achieved, the city says that they will be able to tell everyone that they are now a real cycling city.

There's a nice video on their website as well as many other details, including a map showing the cycle routes grid.

I've had a few other posts showing Den Bosch in the past, largely thanks to Mark Wagenbuur, who lives there.

Meanwhile, not to be left behind, Rotterdam says it is planning to become the cycling city of the Netherlands.

Unfortunately, I've no details of the Rotterdam investment apart from that they're planning to build an underground cycle park for 5000 bikes at the railway station.

Assen also didn't refer to itself as a "cycling city" until the cycling rate was over 40%. The Dutch are very modest about their achievements in cycling compared with many other places.

Test ride a Mango Velomobile...

... or one of many other recumbent bikes.

The Ligfietsgarage (Recumbent Garage) in Groningen, where I work three days a week, is having a test ride day on Saturday the 31st of October between 11:00 and 16:00.

The full range of Sinner recumbent bikes will be ridable as well as models from other manufacturers that we stock.

The event is free. You don't need to register in advance, but you will need to show ID before borrowing a bike.

Staff as the shop speak fluent English and German as well as Dutch. As well as many new bikes, we stock second hand bikes and supply parts and servicing for recumbent cyclists.

Contact details for the Ligfietsgarage are as follows:

Address: Stavangerweg 15, 9723 JC, Groningen
Email: info@sinnerligfietsen.nl
Tel: 050 - 549 3415

Click through for the Sinner website.

Read my review of the Sinner Mango Velomobile.

Biomotion tour

The Biomotion tour came to Assen yesterday. Yesterday's event was at the TT circuit, and today we were in the city centre.

There were many alternative fuel cars, but to me other things were more interesting. There were a few electric vehicles of one type or another, but I don't need to write about those. Large car companies are quite capable of dealing with their own publicity (however there are details at the organiser's website). There were also a few small electric vehicles of one type or another and ours were the only purely human powered vehicles. We took along a selection of Sinner recumbents. Our new black demo Mango attracted a lot of looks.

It was a novelty to get to ride on the famous TT track. Someone there told me he'd ridden a bike around it before and found it hard going, and he was right. The surface does seem a little odd. Presumably it's designed for maximum grip for motorbikes cornering rather quickly. Also, the total lack of protection from sidewinds made corners quite "interesting" even at my speed.

The last time I was there was during the prologue of the Vuelta, but we were sitting in those seats that time around, not on the track.

The vehicles next to my Mango are Drymer electric assisted tricycles. It's a leaning tricycle with optional cover. Really quite good.

This vehicle isn't human powered at all, but I liked it. It's  a local school's entry in the Shell eco-marathon. 270 km on one litre of petrol is pretty good. I wish I'd had the opportunity to get involved with something like this when I was at school.



In other news, I've now had my Mango for one week and one day. It has 311 km on the clock. The total would have been higher, but yesterday it covered only the distance to the TT track and back, and today just the 4 km round trip to the city centre.
Read my review of the Sinner Mango Velomobile.

A Dutch city with a "low" cycling rate

Maastricht is a city in the south-eastern, and quite hilly, Dutch province of Limburg.

The Fietsberaad reports that Maastricht now has a new and ambitious cycling plan.

The article is quite interesting. In the city currently, 30% of all journeys up to 7.5 km ( 5 miles ) are by bike, which is now considered to be a low figure by comparison with other Dutch cities. The aim is that by 2011, the rate of cycling will have increased by 10% beyond the rate in 2006. In order to help make this happen, four million Euros are being spent in the next two years. Maastricht's population is 117000, so that's around 17 Euros per person per year.

There are eight main ways in which the change is to the made.

1. There is to be a reduction in barriers on the main cycle route network.
2. Further separation of the networks for cars, public transport and cycling.
3. Improvement in comfort and safety of important routes.
4. Improvement in permeability for cyclists of and between different areas.
5. Improvement of quality of the facilities.
6. Quantity and accessibility of cycle parking facilities and parks.
7. Expansion of availability of hire and loan bikes.
8. Investment in mobility management, education, cycling promotion
9. Improvements for recreational cycle usage.
   

The plan has come about on the basis of conclusions from the Fietsbalans ( a standardized way in which Dutch cities evaluate how they are doing ), various evaluations, results from traffic surveys, discussion with involved organisations, feedback from exhibitions and reactions sent by citizens. In November 2007, citizens were given took the opportunity to react online. 800 placed messages about problems on an interactive map, all of which have now been dealt with.

Anyway, now you've heard the "bad news", take a look at what Maastricht actually looks like. Very few cities in other countries, even in areas of other countries which are a lot flatter than here, have anything like this level of cycling:


Video courtesy of Mark Wagenbuur.

Cycling as medicine

Fietsersbond, together with medical insurance company Zilveren Kruis Achmea, have a new book called "Fietsen als medicijn", or "Cycling as medicine".

A quick translation of part of the website:

"The book is about the relationship between the bicycle and health. Obesity, hart and cardio-vascular illness, diabetes and depression are at the top of the list of preventable problems. They cause much personal harm and result in high costs in health care. But there is one "all on one" house, garden and kitchen medicine: The bike. In the book, normal people tell how cycling makes them healthier and experts put the medical value of the bicycle in plain language, both for prevention and cure."

They go on with a few examples. e.g.

• Housewife Monique Ilbrink (120 kg / 260 lbs ) takes her children to school in a bakfiets. 'If I didn't cycle, I'd get fatter'"
• Former gardener Peter van de Ven cycled after his two heart attacks to become fit again. He is addicted to cycling and now seldom uses a car.
• Marco Meijerink tells how he can keep his insulin level better under control by cycling.
• Dr Willem Heckman uses the bike as an anti-depressive. 'A daily round trip of 40 km works just as well as a pill, but without side-effects'

There are other health stories on the blog, including how cycling saves employers money due to lower sickness costs.

Update January 2010: This book has now been placed in thousands of doctors' waiting rooms in the Netherlands.

Free bicycle for commuters

I really can't add anything to this story from the fietsberaad, so I'm repeating it verbatim below:

The minor road N302 in Harderwijk will soon be overhauled completely. A bicycle transfer point is provided for motorists willing to cycle the last stretch to work during construction operations. In addition they will be provided with a free bicycle.
plaatje

Overall 150 people will have a transfer bicycle on loan during work on the N302. In return they are expected to cycle to work from the transfer point at least three times a week (in a five-day working week) over fourteen months. Anyone meeting these requirements is allowed to keep the bicycle (at a value of 700 Euro) afterwards. The electronic entrance to the bicycle shed registers daily who is retrieving and returning his bicycle. Participants may choose from eight different types of bicycle. Participation is completely free. The underlying reason is that supplying and maintaining a bicycle transfer point is expensive, but a shuttle bus is far more expensive. By now over 150 people have applied for the free bicycle.

Cyclists do quite well over here when there are road works. We've more examples, including how road lanes are reserved for cyclists during road works.

Promoting cycling at FlevOnice

Last Sunday, Arjen and I went to a cycle promotion event in Flevoland. It was at the FlevOnice facility, a unique in the world place with a 5 km long outdoor artificial ice-skating circuit. It's obviously not reasonable to keep this thing frozen during the warmer months, so it turns into a tarmac circuit for other purposes in the spring. We were at the first event for "Mei Maand Fiets Maand" ("May Month, Bike Month"), an annual bicycle promotion event. That there is a lot of cycling already in this country is, after all, no reason why more shouldn't be promoted.

Flevoland itself is the world's largest artificial island. I find it fascinating. It's a vast area of land which used to be the sea bed. Draining it has resulted in hundreds of ship-wrecks now being on land, and it's protected by dykes built on an enormous scale (including this one which I cycled over last year). There are no buildings older than the 1960s on Flevoland, and three new cities: Lelystad, Dronten and Almere which were established in the 1960s and 1970s and consist only of modern architecture arranged on modern lines - with plenty of cycle paths of course.


As we were there representing Sinner Ligfietsen, here is the company video presentation showing the bikes, including some glimpses of how they are built.

41 percent of journeys by bike

Quietly, and without any fanfare at all, the Assen local government website now says that the last survey showed that at least 41 percent of all journeys in the city are by bike.

This represents a significant rise on three years ago when there were about 37 percent of all journeys by bike.

Note that this does mean all journeys, not just commuters. It's very much easier to get confident young adult commuters to cycle than to convince pensioners to cycle, or convince parents that it is safe for their children to cycle, or to convince people to do their shopping by bike.

Also note that many journeys are made by foot or on public transport, and that when bikes are used to make journeys to the railway station (where there are 2300 bicycle parking spaces) or bus stops these journeys don't even get counted as cycle journeys. Somewhat fewer than half of all journeys are by car.

It's easy to see why cycling has continued to be more attractive as the population of the city continues to rise at about 1.5% per year. It simply gets better here for cyclists all the time. The pace of cycle path building in and around the city continues to be brisk. Everything that was started last year has been completed. New things are now being done. We've new routes to the East and North East as well as to the West. Many paths inside the city have been upgraded, and we're looking forward in particular to being able to ride on a new recreational route nearing completion near our home.

There are many other posts about Assen, which show other aspects of what it is like to live here.

2010 update: The link to the local government article no longer works. When this was pointed out to me, I wrote an updated article.

The photos show some of the cycle parking on a typical day in the city centre. I have absolutely no idea how many official spaces there are for bikes, but it can of course never be quite enough. Assen doesn't have the highest cycling rate in the world. That honour goes to Groningen, a few km North of here. However, it is one of the many towns in the Netherlands which has a higher cycling rate than anywhere in any other country.

Op Fietse

Anneke, a regular contributor to this blog, drew my attention to this song, "Op Fietse" ("On a Bike"). It was recorded in 1997 by a Drents band called Skik. They are singing about how wonderful it is to cycle here in Drenthe, describing various parts of the province, how they can do whatever they want cycling around with the wind in their wheels, without a care in the world. Riding up to the German border before riding back again, across heath and through forests, along the side of canals. Wonderful. It really is just like that here. The song is in the Drents dialect, and the lyrics are here.

In 1997 this song made it into the top 40 here in the Netherlands.


I realised on hearing this that I had heard the harmonica before. It's in this video which was amongst a number of videos promoting cycling that I put on my website a few years back.

After some wonderful pictures of people having fun on their bikes, the titling on this one says "As we like sitting on the bike so much, why stand still in a traffic jam ? Cycling to work - a good thing."

If you're interested in experiencing for yourself what it's like to cycle in Drenthe, the cycling province of the Netherlands, where cycling is something so pleasant that it encourages people to sing about it, please take a look at our cycling holidays.

Cycling for everyone

The presentation here was made by John Pucher, Professor of Planning and Public Policy, in Vancouver.

It is well worth watching.

John is one of very few English speaking cycling experts who has really understood what is involved in achieving a mass cycling culture.

He and Ralph Buehler also wrote the invaluable article How cycling was made "Irresistable" in the Netherlands, Denmark & Germany.

I previously posted about how everyone cycles.

Vuelta a Espana

I know where I'll be on August 29th and 30th next year...

Our local paper has revealed the route of the first stage of next year's Vuelta a Espana (the cycle racing tour of Spain). The Vuelta has only once before started outside Spain: in 1997 the start was in Lisbon in Portugal. However, the chosen starting place next year is right here in Assen.

On the 29th the riders will start with a prologue on Assen's motorbike TT circuit.

On the 30th they'll race the first stage, 201 km long through Drenthe. The start will be in Assen the route goes south to Hoogeveen turning North East and returning to Assen from the East through Grolloo and Rolde, then North as far as Groningen Eelde airport and back south to Assen, before going South East again to end the day at Emmen.

It's quite a ride. The route will no doubt be planned to take in some of the Paris-Roubaix style pave we've got hidden in the countryside here.

Addy Engels, a local rider who has raced in the Giro d'Italia six times, the Vuelta four times and the Tour de France once is hoping to win the stage on his home soil in Drenthe next year. I wish him the best of luck. Dutch riders have twice won the Vuelta overall.

There is also to be a touring version of the Vuelta in Drenthe. Further details will follow.

This isn't the only racing event in this area next year. We also have the Jeugdtour, the tour of Drenthe, the Erik Dekker Classic, the Triathlon...

I must have mentioned before that cycle racing is popular in this part of the world ? I may even be tempted out to have another go myself.

If you are interested in a cycling holiday to coincide with the Vuelta, please get in touch. Act soon as places will book very quickly.

There's a later post showing a map of the route.

Clif Bar 2 mile challenge

People often make statements which suggest that the Dutch cycle because their journeys are short. However, it's not actually true that Dutch journeys are significantly different in length from those in other countries, and even in those countries with the longest average journey length, there are plenty of short journeys made which could be by bike. Read on...

Yes, 40% of US urban travel distances are < 2 miles. Just like elsewhere, most trips are short.

I first heard of the Clif Bar 2 mile challenge some time ago. My first reaction was that it was quite ludicrous. 2 miles (3.2 km) is such a very short distance to travel on a bike, yet here's a website showing you how to do it, what equipment to buy (there seems to be an awful lot of it) etc. Surely no encouragement should be needed to get people to make such short journeys by bike ? And why the involvement of an energy bar manufacturer ? Surely no extra energy is needed after that short distance.

However, let's look at it in its context. They claim that 40% of all urban journeys made in the US are 2 miles and under, and that 90% of those trips are by car. I dare say that these figures are correct.

Average journey distances are much the same in any country, the US and the UK having similar figures to the Netherlands. However, choices of travel mode in the Netherlands are a bit different. In this country, 35% of journeys up to five miles (7.5 km) are by bike, 26% by foot and 23% as a car driver. That's for the entire country including rural areas. You get more cycle usage (and walking) in urban areas and over shorter distances. The Dutch also make 15% of their 7.5 km - 15 km journeys by bike and 3% of their over 15 km journeys. i.e. The Dutch make at least three times as many over 15 km journeys by bike as Americans manage over any distance including the shortest. Clif Bar are right to think there is some room for improvement in the USA and it would be a good thing if they could manage to get people to change their habits, even just once a week.

A year or so ago, Kelloggs set a similar challenge in the UK. In their case it is a ten mile challenge (16 kilometres). That's the distance that your family is challenged to jointly ride their bikes in a week. Families which manage this awesome feat can win a new bike (though dare I say it's unlikely they've worn out their old ones...).

Again, it seems absurd when viewed from a country where every man, woman and child cycles an average of 2.5 km per day every day of their lives. Kelloggs had an offer with the same cycle computers in the Netherlands, but they wisely didn't bother with asking people to cycle 16 kilometres.

It would be easy to be cynical about the reasons why both these companies are involved, but I believe both are genuine attempts to raise awareness.

These two challenges are far from alone. There have been many such initiatives in the US and UK, but none of them achieve anything much by way of changing the appallingly low rate of cycle use in those countries. Perhaps this is because none of them actually address the issues which stop people cycling in the first place. A "challenge" is not what's required. What is required is conditions for cyclists which make cycling an attractive thing to do.

If cycling was less pleasant in the Netherlands, then fewer people would cycle here too. However, cycling is both safe and convenient here and the public has responded by cycling more than in any other country. With good enough conditions, cycling largely promotes itself. The same thing could be achieved anywhere, but it takes a similar dedication to building a truly excellent environment for cycling that the Dutch have demonstrated for the last few decades.

If you want to see what it's like over here yourself, we can show you.

Culture

On the left is a cutting from the local paper. There's a cycle tour this Sunday organised by the local Jazz club.

It says: "As is traditional, the new Jazzclub-Assen season will open with a cycle tour of four venues in Drenthe..."

Note that this is traditional. Normal. It's what is always done. Normal means cycling. There are an awful lot of events which just happen to also include a bike ride.

We took part in a "cultural cycle tour" a few weeks back. Unlike the Jazz tour, which is spontaneous, this was organised by the council as a promotional event. It involved riding a 30 km route, at a leisurely pace, and stopping regularly to listen to music, watch plays, a bit of tai-chi (Assen-Groningen's "theme" this year has been "Go China", so there have been a lot of Chinese influences in cultural events). Very amusing. I made a short video of the tour - including the bit where some people we'd been idly following led us off the correct route and through a wood...

There are some large events in Assen tomorrow. Not cycling events, but more cultural and music events. Live music from mid-day until midnight. Special effort will have to be made to provide enough cycle parking for the many visitors.

Cycle Friendly Zone Ahead

Unless more is done than erect signage, it can sometimes be difficult to tell a "cycle friendly" zone in the UK from one which is less "cycle friendly".

The photo shows a sign in Highbridge, Somerset, England. It was taken a couple of weeks ago by a friend passing through who had seen this arrangement of "cycle friendly" sign and lots of traffic and thought it funny.

As it turned out, this sign is in a place which has some significance for us.

Some years ago, my wife and I had our first home together just a couple of hundred metres from this sign.

Years before that, this road was part of my cycle route to work. It wasn't always particularly pleasant to cycle along here, however I was part of that small minority who get around by bike even if the conditions are not good.

In 2006, with a friend, I passed this spot on my ride between Land's End and John o'Groats.

This point is between my parents' and my sister's home. They only live 10 miles (16 km) apart from each other, which is a short distance by bike, but it may as well be a thousand miles when there are obstacles like this in the way.

What could be nicer than grand-children cycling over to see their grand-parents, or the whole family going on bike rides together with a picnic. If this was the Netherlands, such things would be possible. However, in Britain it is not possible. The lack of proper cycling infrastructure means that my nieces have grown into adults without ever making that journey, and that my parents would never consider riding in the opposite direction either (even though they find riding here to be very pleasant). Riding in this location is something that few would encourage their loved ones to do.

I don't criticise anyone for not cycling in conditions like this. If I still lived there I also wouldn't be encouraging my children to cycle their journeys. In fact, I might have stopped cycling myself by now too. That's what people do. I've met any number of people in Britain who cycled when they were young, but gave up as they got older, including friends of a similar age to myself. If conditions are not pleasant, people don't tend to cycle. Riding along the busy A38 and through cramped areas like that shown are enough to stop virtually everyone from riding, and the result is that despite this area of Somerset being just as flat as much of the Netherlands, the cycling rate is very much lower. Close to zero.

Over here it's very different. It's always pleasant to make such journeys by bike, and that's what everyone does. My children regularly make longer journeys than this to visit their friends. Not only does this mean my children have far more freedom because we moved to the Netherlands, but it also means that Mum and Dad are free from having to act as taxis. The habit isn't lost as people age, either. Even the over 60s make 24% of their journeys by bike.

For cycling to increase in popularity in the UK, provision for British cyclists needs to move well beyond just putting up a few signs. So long as infrastructure puts cyclists in the way of drivers, cycling will remain a minority pursuit. A high degree of subjective safety is vital if the habit of cycling is to be encouraged and retained as people get older. We're not traffic calming, we're people.

While this location was particularly interesting to us because of our connection to the area, the situation is far from unique. There are thousands of locations across the UK which look a lot like this. Thousands of locations that put off all but the most keen cyclists. By comparison, take a look at the way a Dutch city has been changed over time, or look at a typical route between towns.

We're running Study Tours over here for councillors, campaigners, planners from the UK to come and experience the difference between cycling in the Netherlands and cycling in the UK, and to see for themselves what the results are in numbers of people cycling.

The photo was taken by Simon Nuttall on holiday in the west country and is used here with permission. The original photo is online, and shows even more cars along with the location...