New year cycle

A group of us went out for a huneliggers ride today, as usual on Sunday mornings. It was a bit warmer than two weeks ago, just hovering above freezing point for most of the day.

Wonderful weather for a morning ride in the Mango.

Last week it was quite cold. -8 C when I rode to work on Thursday morning, for instance. However, by New Year's Eve it had warmed up a lot and much of the ice was melted. As a result, we could enjoy the fireworks without getting frozen.


Today started with a very light sprinkling of snow. This meant I could tell in advance that Peter was taking part in the ride, as I followed the three tracks in the snow left by his Mango's wheels between Assen and the starting point.

There were four of us humans today, Anton (who lead the ride), Georg, Peter and myself. Georg brought along his world famous "velodog", Russell.

As usual, we rode through the countryside along cycle paths and minor roads. We were again lucky with the weather - everything looked wonderful. We had some very light snow fall on us for a bit, but it was nothing troublesome.


Our lunch stop was by a lake in the forest. It's not really a touristy spot. In fact, it's really a quarry where sand is extracted (hence the "no entry past this point" sign and the pipes. However, it was completely quiet today and it looked really beautiful.

One energy source on top of another...

I'd not got around to making sandwiches for lunch. However, I had something else: Kendal Mint Cake which my Mum gave me for Christmas. It's perhaps not normally the healthiest thing to eat, with the proud boast on the packet of "350kcal per 100g", however even though we weren't putting in quite so much effort as the British Everest expedition of 1975, it was very enjoyable.

I rode through Kendal back in 2006.


We stayed at the lunch stop for quite a while, talking, admiring the view, enjoying the sun and taking photos.

Most of us wrapped up to stay warm but Russell, like all dogs, seemed to enjoy rolling in the snow.

Last Thursday I had a bit of a fright on the way home from work as I crashed my Mango on black ice. It had been quite cold in the morning, but had warmed up just above freezing in the day, rained a little bit, and then gone back below freezing by the time I left for home. Very dangerous conditions. Even though the gritters were out on the cycle paths and roads before I went home, there were slippery patches.

I found one of these on the way home. I put the brakes on just before a junction on a minor road and my Mango span on the spot, fell over and slid to a halt on snow at the edge of the road. Luckily there was no damage to me or to the bike. When I went to look I could immediately see the cause: Where I'd brakes, there had been ice under the rear wheel and one front wheel, while the other front wheel was still on asphalt. When I got home I fitted a Marathon Winter to the rear wheel of my own Mango and went for a short test ride. In the same treacherous conditions the bike remains in a straight line, whatever is under the wheels when I brake. Much better.

Today was the first proper ride with this rear tyre and I'm very happy with it. Of course, I'll change back to a non-studded tyre when the danger of ice has passed.


After lunch, just as we were starting to cool down a bit, it was time to go, heading through more of the beautiful countryside.

We started off heading North, towards Groningen, which was good for Anton and Georg, but not really the right direction for Peter and I, so after a bit we left the other two and turned towards home.

Just under 65 km in all. Not a long ride, but a very enjoyable one.

Happy New Year, everyone. I hope you've also been able to get out on your bikes, whatever weather you have.
Read my review of the Sinner Mango Velomobile.

December photos

A few photos. Some from today, some from a couple of days ago...

Merry Christmas everyone.

A Sunday ride through a snowy landscape

A bunch of us met for a huneliggers ride through the countryside again today. Wonderful weather for it.

It was -7 C this morning, and had "warmed up" to -6 C by the time the ride itself started. That's still T-shirt weather with a velomobile, so of course I rode in my Mango, but whenever you get out you need to put a coat on sharpish. And of course you also need to wear a good warm hat and scarf while riding. But not gloves.

The countryside just looks so fantastically wonderful on a day like this. That is the reward for going out on a cold, but bright, day like this.

The sun was relatively strong for a winter day, and there was no wind to speak of, so it was really rather pleasant. Good company is vitally important too, of course, and that's the reason to meet up with a bunch of people and ride together. Today, Peter, Robert and Harry were already at the start point. Harry set off towards home quite early as he had only come for the Marathon Winter studded tyres which I had brought with me. Peter and Robert both also live in Assen, so we rode back together through the countryside.

The cycle paths locally have not been swept quite so well this year as last. The weather has been difficult, thawing and re-freezing repeatedly. However, the "superhighway" stretch between Assen and Vries was quite good. I had few problems yesterday cycling within the city.

Here's the video of today's ride:

The game that is being played is called Klootschieten.

In a recent post, I explained what a huneligger is.
Read my review of the Sinner Mango Velomobile.

Winter's here...

Last weekend we had a big thaw, and we took the opportunity to go and collect a Christmas tree from one of the local growers. I rode the Xtracycle again, as it's good for moving long things.

On the way back we saw the amusing sight of a car driver trying to use a bus road but coming up against an obstacle which has featured before on this blog. You can see in these photos why the driver changed her mind and turned around:

After the mild weekend, the cold weather returned, and there was snow and ice for the rest of the week. My children cycled to school on Wednesday morning, just like every other morning. It was -2 C, and there was snow on the ground but there was no suggestion of travelling any other way:


Orders have continued to come in to the Dutch Bike Bits shop and as ever the customers parcels have made their way to the post office by bike.

In this case I had seven parcels in all, for customers in Australia, Canada, Denmark, England, the USA and one staying within the Netherlands. Four of the customers had ordered Schwalbe Marathon Winter studded tyres in the 20" size (which we have in stock now), and those are the parcels stacked on the back of my bike.

It was very pleasant riding to the post office in the freshly fallen snow, but on the way back it turned into a blizzard, and I saw these two people and one umbrella on a bike going in the opposite direction to a snow-plow on the same cycle path. I guess they sorted it out before they collided:


I also did a day's work in Groningen yesterday, setting off at 7 in the morning when it was -5 C (23 F) and returning at about about -2 C. As ever, the 60 km round trip went without any drama, I went a little slower than usual and took care on the corners so it took an hour and ten minutes in each direction. Though fresh ice had fallen/formed on some of them afterwards, the cycle paths had all been swept except for the same five metre long portion in the middle which was missed last year (the centre photo here):


It's -7 C this morning. My eldest daughter is travelling today to see grandparents in the UK before Christmas. Some of the Dutch trains are working on half hour services instead of quarter hour services at the moment, and there might be some delays, but it seems they're all running. I don't think they'll have any problem with getting to the ferry terminal, not on the ferry, but I'm a bit concerned about the trains in Britain. As ever there are reports of "Travel Chaos" despite weather which other countries seem to be able to cope with, and indeed which Britain also used to be able to cope with:



However, some problems have been caused here too, as you can see from this news report from here in Assen:


The other major thing this week was the meeting about the Netherlands Cycling Embassy, which was the subject of another blog post.

Assen railway station bike shop: Longer opening hours, more guarded cycle parking spaces

A small story in the local newspaper. Longer opening hours at the bike shop at Assen's railway station. The shop was previously open from before the first train in the morning until after the last train in the evening. Now the opening times each day will be from 5 in the morning until 2 the next morning, easily covering the times for trains. At any time, the shop will be able to offer bike sales, repairs, rentals (for normal rental bikes and also OV Fiets bike share bikes.

The longer shop hours also mean better availability for the approximately one thousand secure indoor cycle parking spaces (this has quietly increased from 750 places last year), though of course the 1550 outdoor spaces can be accessed at any time.

Such long opening hours are quite exceptional in the Netherlands. It is rare here for shops to open late at night, and virtually all shops are shut on Sundays and on Monday mornings. As such, this bike shop will be one of very few shops of any kind which are open at such hours. Outside these hours, there is still the vending machine.


View of the indoor cycle parking from a platform at night-time.


Outdoor parking on the Western side of the line.


Outdoor parking on the Eestern side of the line.

Assen's population is 65000. The railway station has parking for 2550 bicycles. That's one space for every 25 of the population. You can work out a comparable ratio for your own town. There are other posts about railway station cycle parking.

Update 2013
New plans for the railway station will expand the size to 3500 bikes to keep up with increased usage. Another blog post will include details in the future.

Assen is not a university town. This is a fairly typical amount of railway station cycle parking for a normal Dutch town without hoards of students to boost cycling numbers. You find such numbers even in villages, at railways stations all across the country.

Groningen Railway Station cycle parking revisited again

It's sometimes difficult to keep up with progress on cycle parking. I've covered the parking at Groningen's main railway station twice before: First I wrote about the cycle park built in 2006 for 4150 bikes, and then I wrote about how this cycle park had been expanded to accommodate an additional thousand bikes, bringing the total to around 10000.

Today it's the turn of the "Fietsflat" in Groningen, an additional one thousand bicycle cycle parking facility which has been built at the station to cater for the ever growing demand.

So here it is. An additional two storey cycle park.

This is not entirely a new structure. Actually, a slightly smaller, two storey cycle park was erected in this location as a temporary structure while the main cycle park was being built. However, by the time the big new cycle park was open and in use, the usage had grown such that the temporary park was also full. That's the reason why the Fietsflat came into being as a permanent structure. Unfortunately, this is often full too...

In the video you see the main "fietsbalkon", now expanded to (officially) 5150 spaces, and also the Fietsflat. You don't see the other smaller parking areas around the station, nor the indoor guarded cycle park which accommodate the rest of the bikes..

Explanatory captions on this video are only visible if you view on a computer and not on a mobile device.

Groningen's population is 188000. The main railway station has parking for around 10000 bicycles. That's one space for every 19 of the population. You can work out a comparable ratio for your own town. There are other posts about railway station cycle parking. Until 2015, cycle-parking capacity at this railway station is to be expanded at a rate of 500 bicycles per year.

Sixteen new long distance cycle routes

It's just been announced that 16 new long distance inter-city cycle routes will be built across the country with central government support of 21 million euros and local council support making up the rest of the 80 million euro combined cost of the schemes.

The new routes are targeting places where presently there are traffic jams on the roads, the intention is to convince drivers to cycle. Not only commuters, but also employers are interested. Cyclists are less likely to be ill, need no car parking space, have more reliable working hours due to not getting stuck in traffic jams, and also improve the environment.

These routes are particularly planned to support existing busy commuting routes of up to 15 km in each direction as this is seen as a distance which you can reasonably expect people to ride.

The existing cycle paths will be upgraded to have better surfaces, better signs and better lighting. Also there will be improvements to bridges and tunnels.

A faster cycling route improves how well cycling competes with driving. The potential is large because more than half of all commutes in the Netherlands are over a distance of under 15 km.


In the Netherlands, 35% of all journeys under 7.5 km are already by bicycle. Also, 15% of journeys between 7.5 km and 15 km take place by bike. For all distances over 15 km, the numbers drop to just 3% of journeys. However, even for these longer distances that's still a larger percentage by bike than people make even of short journeys in many other countries.

See more articles about funding. It's not entirely clear how much of the money here is new, and how much comes from the existing pot. Also see more articles about the Netherlands' growing network of intercity superhighways for bicycles.

Thanks to both my colleague Harry, and also intercityfietser who both alerted me to this. It's infrastructure on a country sized scale, not merely a city sized scale. But in the usual Dutch way it's being talked about rather modestly, and has not been the subject of press releases sent all around the world...


The statistics for cycling modal share over different distances came from "Cycling In The Netherlands", one of the documents linked from our articles page.