Whenver I see (on TV) Dutch people cycling it always seems they are in a fairly high gear and it looks fairly effortless. The "sit up band beg" rising position seems at odds with ours. Is their bike geometry different to ours? Have they merely realised that hard tires roll more easily. Are they fitter?
Bicycles
Mar 27, 2019
Last reply: 7 years ago
9 Replies
Massively fitter from cycling all the time in such a mountainous country.
Yep, its flat as a tack there.
Just come back from Flanders where much the same applies. One of the reasons they all look so relaxed is that drivers are not trying to kill them all the time. It helps that road layouts are arranged to give them space and priority. As one of our cab drivers put it, "we all cycle ourselves".
It helps that a lot of the cycling is done by people as part of their daily life and not as a competitive hobby or object of exercise where a good proportion of those taking part are using the public highway as a convenient Gym to the annoyance of other users while maintaining a high degree of self importance and insisting they have an absolute right to be given the opportunity to do so.
Simon Mason before he went loopy was a good example of such a PIA who put peoples backs up.
GH
Ha ha. I'm sure you know what Netherlands means. Brian
+1
Nether doesn't mean flat.
I too can cycle in a fairly high gear and it appear (relatively) effortless.
More than half of adult bikes sold in the Netherlands are now ebikes. As is mine.
I'm sure you know sarcasm when you read it Brian.
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