Last Friday I returned from the Cycling Embassy Study Tour to Assen and Groningen in the Netherlands, led by David Hembrow. I am quite deliberately leaving it a while before I even attempt to blog more thoroughly about it as I want to allow some time for it all to sink in. It really was a three-day assault on the senses that went way beyond looking at some Dutch cycling infrastructure. To say it left a profound mark would be bordering on reckless understatement. The amusing aspect was the sheer bewilderment from the Dutch themselves that anyone would want to take photos and examine something that is taken so utterly for granted – the freedom of all citizens to travel with subjective safety by bicycle, if they so choose, regardless of age, gender, colour, creed, status or even what type of cyclist you are for sporting pursuits (we were overtaken by many road cyclists with all sorts of colourful team kit on). To them the act of getting around by bicycle is quite boring and not really worthy of conversation at all – just as it should be.
Another amusing aspect, as a quick teaser, is my first foray into movies. It is one of the famous bins (usually found close to Dutch schools) angled and at such a height that litter may be easily chucked whilst passing on a bicycle. Yes, the Dutch have even created the perfect symbiosis between bicycle and litter bin (like the Danes and their foot rests whilst waiting at traffic lights) The schoolkids fared slightly better than our efforts…
Anyway, whilst we were away, the Dutch launched their Cycling Embassy. Like the Danish Cycling Embassy, they will be exporting their knowledge and expertise that has had proven success, as opposed to the Cycling Embassy of Great Britain that I formed earlier this year that would welcome anything other than the current situation where Local Authorities are designing facilities for bicycles with no knowledge of bicycles – a bit like asking Orville the Duck to design the successor to Trident.
Here is the video of their launch. I know it has featured on other blogs but it really does need repeating as it really is superb.
I shall be posting far more frequently as I catch up with everything else and try to put everything I’ve seen in a British context. This should be easier than you think (certainly easier than I once thought) and easier than some may have you believe.
The Lo Fidelity Bicycle Club 
“more and more of the limited space is taken away from people on bicycles” – that says it all, it’s a case of ‘the tragedy of the commons’. Private enclosure of Public space.
It became obvious when it was pointed-out by the following post:
http://worldstreets.wordpress.com/2011/08/02/tragedy-of-the-commons-the-car-as-enclosure/
BTW, thanks for the CEoGB.
Many tourists leave the Netherlands having had a mind altering experience, but you be careful of the high from using separated cycling infrastructure – it can have permanent effects, and be extremely addictive. I hope you inhaled. Deeply.
It seems to me that, when trying to explain how Dutch approaches would work in the UK, it might be worth trying flipping photographs and videos left-for-right to make it more obvious how things would work in an environment that drives on the left. I find I have to work really hard to understand how things like Dutch traffic light and roundabout layouts work for cyclists, partly because ther are so alian to what we have here but also because the traffic is on the wrong side of the road and going around the roundabouts the wrong way. I suspect I’m not alone.
This is a great video.
I left the Netherlands 20 years ago and this brings back sweet memories.
Thanks from an old “Amsterdammer”