I consider myself I fairly good cycler –I mean common, how complicated is it to ride a bike anyways?! But yesterday morning I received a crash course in the rules of the road on a Dutch bike path.
Of course one of the main annoyances to watch out for when cycling is the “always-opening-at-an-inconvenient-time” draws bridges. In Amsterdam there are estimated to be over 1300 bridges—and quite a few of the drawbridge variety. (This is to accommodate large boats/ships passing through the canals).
Yesterday I was running a bit late on my way to work, and of course, I had to be stopped by the painfully slow opening of a drawbridge. The time delay isn’t the most annoying factor, it’s more the build up of cyclists that accumulates waiting for the bridge to lower. After 5 minutes of waiting, dozens of cyclist were now huddled into a small mob around me. Trust me; it’s more difficult that it looks to bike in the rain, in a pack of determined, over zealous Dutch bikers. You have to dodge the grandpas peddling far too slow, the zooming mopeds who think they can drive on the bike lanes, the old lades driving their toy cars (yes tiny cars, and I mean tiny, are allowed to cruise on the bike paths), and of course the other fearless bikers zooming by.
After I finally separated myself from the mob I realized --far too late--that the woman inches in front of me had decided to come to a crashing halt in the middle of the lane. I swerved to avoid her, but only cleared her enough to slam myself into her back wheels, barely avoiding wiping out entirely. She was very apologetic, in a dazed and confused sort of way, but sorry just doesn’t cut it when you have a swollen painful knee, dirty wet jeans, and a 15 minute trek left to cycle.
I guess the whole biking thing was going far too well. I had mastered the bike signals, the bike lanes, the bike lights (mandatory to wear after dark), biking with an obscene amount of things, doubling, dodging trams/buses, yelling at tourists, and even the most advanced skill; chatting on a mobile while biking . I guess a minor mishap was bound to happen sooner or later. Don't be fooled though, I haven't been succesfully discouraged yet!
P.S. Bike pics from the excellent site of photographer Frank Lee. See www.flee.com for a series of Amsterdam bike pics.
