Dutch Bicycling In The Snow

A snowstorm that dumped snow on the Midwest just barely grazed New York City the other day.  We had a few flakes, but more sleet and freezing rain.

Even though we've had a few noticeable snowstorms during the past decade, on the whole, there's been a lot less of the white stuff than in previous winters. 

Apparently, that is the case in much of the Northern Hemisphere.  Mark Wagenbuur, the Bicycle Dutch author, posted about riding in the first snow to fall in Utrecht in nearly two years.

As he recounts, the snow recorded at De Bilt, the Dutch weather agency, on the 16th was the first in 700 days:  a record for the station.  The coating was light enough that the city didn't clear it, figuring motorists would drive it away. ("Drive it away" sounds like an exorcism or a fight against an enemy attack, doesn't it?)  His video and commentary shows that, for all of the Netherlands' reputation as a cyclists' paradise, there are still intersections and other roadway features that aren't so bike-friendly.

Then again, folks like Wagenbuur cycle for transportation, not for recreation or sport, as his "about" page tells us.  People who use their bikes as vehicles are more likely to see the defects in cycling infrastructure because we see our bicycles as vehicles and ourselves as, in effect, drivers.