How’s the helmet use in the Netherlands? When I was Belgium I watched (from our AirBnB window) a literal traffic jam of people riding bikes down to road on their way to school/work. But no helmets. I always wear a helmet, and typically when you’re talking with cyclists in the US they’ll alternate between admonishment and outright anger at anyone that does not wear a helmet while riding. It’s to the point where I’ve seen people say “Where’s your helmet” in the comments of a YouTube video where the cyclist in the video is literally riding their bike 3mph from the car to a registration booth or something and people freak out about that. I’m assuming there’s not a lot of helmet use in the Netherlands overall?
I was surprised at the number of people I see riding around here in the UK without helmets. Which good for them, wear it or not, not my concern.
When people in the US think of cycling in the Netherlands or any other cycling friendly area they picture them and their friends riding full speed on their Venge’s and Domane’s with no cars in sight. That’s not been my experience. It’s mostly thousands of people with no helmets using the bike as a way to get to school/work/local errand runs. It’s a pantload of townie bikes with fat tires and big wide handlebars.
Yes that’s largely what I see, too. People getting to work and around on town bikes almost never wear a helmet. But road cyclist do mostly wear helmet. I do the same: Helmet on the road bike no helmet on the town bike… admittedly there is not really any logic behind that.
In terms of traffic:
this is certainly true. When I get to work in the morning (in non-pandemic times) and stop at a traffic light, there are often about 10 other cyclists waiting with me.
But the great thing is, as soon as you get out of the cities, there is plenty of routes with only small amount of traffic where indeed you can:
But there are also very popular routes that basically look like real life Zwift
How is the ghost X in terms of reliability/functionality? I’ve heard of what seems like many people having issues with them randomly powering down, not powering on (bricked), etc. But I’m still tempted to give it (or the XL) version as try as the price point and form is ideal. Is the footage good enough to catch license plate numbers 99% of the time?
Look on Amazon and search “bicycle mirror bar end” or something and at least 5 different brands come up. Mine might be from CycleAware? Bought it from LBS years ago and don’t remember.
My own method: pick useless roads. The ones that lead from nowhere to nowhere, and do it slower/longer than other alternatives. The safest car driver is the one you don’t encounter.
My favorite routes include many where there is more farm equipment than car traffic, and more bikes than farm equipment. I ride those really early on weekend days. Nobody, and beautiful light - what can one ask for above that?
Oh man…the first few long outdoor rides I did this month felt like I had smoked a pack and a half my throat was burning so much! And I don’t even have allergies! There’s also a standing pollen alert here for about 2 months straight. Nasty. Almost makes me wish one of those red light running d-bag dump truck drivers would put me out of my misery!
No, as an American ex-pat living in Switzerland and spending time in Spain, I get it. However, the ubiquity of cyclists is not the issue here. I stopped cycling for several years after dealing with too many bad cyclists, and their aftermath, north of Chicago (North Shore area) who were seemingly eager to cause problems with drivers. Before that, I rode for 15yrs in west Los Angeles, Santa Monica up and down the coast, where cyclists were ubiquitous. That didn’t change driver behavior. I knew several cyclists killed, and participated in many more memorial rides of those killed, by drivers not paying attention and given little to no sentences. One I remember clearly: there was a very wide (and clean) shoulder up a wide canyon with equally wide lanes, one up, one down. An SUV driver was busy with her phone and veered into the shoulder, running over and killing a cyclist. No punishment. It was, after all, an “accident.” (This was on Palisades Drive, off Sunset Blvd, in Pacific Palisades, for those interested.)
There is the necessary investment in safer architecture, which you cite Netherlands has. Switzerland has a mix, and Spain less, but both are heavy on driver responsibility. In the US, the police and news coverage immediately dehumanize one side of the equation (“a truck struck” or “a car hit”) while switching or minimizing (or neutralizing) responsibility (“a cyclist collided with”).
Netherlands “gets” it and the population does too. In the US, there are few places that “get” it, but more appearing to be doing. That’s my point. Sorry to be so wordy.
Yup, or consciously deciding to break traffic laws in order to satisfy their needs, aka behaving like a motorist. However, even if a rider is paying attention, it does little to stop insane people who are driving motor vehicles from attempting to harm said rider. We can only do all we can but the dangerous interactions will never be reduced 0%.
And sometimes the police do know the law, they just choose not to enforce it.
I’ve settled on the conclusion that I will do whatever it takes to ensure my personal safety.
Living life is inherently dangerous, we aren’t immortals. Taken to its logical conclusion, doing ‘whatever it takes to ensure personal safety’ means living your life in fear of, well, everything and every interaction with the real world
Being mortal has nothing to do with danger and avoiding danger does not lead to immortality.
A world of difference between riding a townie through a grassy park on a manicured bike path vs riding on the side of a 4-lane road exposed to a constant barrage of individuals who can barely control their own thoughts and actions let alone a speeding 3,000 pound hunk of metal.
Doing “whatever it takes to ensure my personal safety” is inherently contextual and not at all fear based (perfect examples being all the COVID protocols). Petting a puppy dog does not carry the same risk as petting a scorpion.
Someone needs to team the Varia up with a camera and display, where the display only pops on when a vehicle is approaching so you can see what the driver is doing without having to worry about mirrors. And it would also record each pass. Sorta like some newer vehicles that have a blind spot camera - it comes over your display when you have your turn signal on and goes off a few seconds after your lane shift is complete.
This is the single most important thing IMO. Minimize chances for potential interactions with cars.
How well you can do this will obviously vary based on where you live. But there are always choices of route that are more or less dangerous than others. I live in Colorado where there are a lot of options to get away from cars. But I still see cyclists riding on roads I will not ride on - despite other options available that get them to the same place.
Totally agree on the combo of radar and mirror. The radar lets me know something is approaching, the mirror lets me confirm they are giving me room. I use the bar end Corky mirror which is quite small and folds up when I race so the dork factor is low. It is a little finicky to flip it into position but after a few rides you’ll get the hang of it. It doesn’t have a large view but it’s just enough to confirm a vehicle is approaching and giving way.
I only have 1 outdoor bike, and it’s my cross bike. Works nice on the road, although 1x is kinda maybe not ideal. Anyway, when cross hits, it’s nice to just pop the mirror off without having to reseat a bar-plug. If I get a dedicated road bike, though, I’ll definitely look for a this one.
