I got a new (new old second hand) bike this weekend after being bikeless for a few weeks. As a Dutch person it was of course hell. I can’t live without my bike.
But the country I live in now has far less better bike infrastructure, and it’s a gamble whether or not I am going to die each morning. Also, the city is filled with people on electric cargo bikes with their kids in front going 35 km/h in narrow streets and bicycle paths. But they are no match to my manual classic Dutch citybike, which cannot be destroyed.
The happiness I feel when I can ride my bike each morning and evening to work is unmatched. I am now looking to pimp it so that I can take my tent and stuff with me when the weather gets better.
Bikes, man. Truly a wonder.
What do y’all think of bikes? You know how to ride one?
Thank you for the video, it was informative though I wasn’t the biggest fan of this guy’s tone. Completely agree that infrastructure is the most important factor, only pushback I’d offer is that it’s like, really really cold where I live. The average daily mean temperature in January for example is twice as cold as Oulu (-16.2 vs -8.2). Temps in the morning are frequently below -30 C. Factoring in wind of 30-40km/hr you get frostbite warnings and “feels like” temps of -40 C, sometimes worse. What he wore in the video would be fine for Toronto but would be completely inadequate here. There are still some madlads who have studded tires and put on a full snowsuit and thermals every morning and do it here but all the cycling infrastructure in the world couldn’t get me out there tbh. I’m also just a wuss when it comes to cold though, never get used to it. Sorry for the rant I just hate it here.
Damn. Yeah I mean, like are you an Inuit? Haha, I’m sorry. That’s just too cold. At that point I’d be asking for snowmobile infrastructure lmao.