I love that we can cycle this much.
When I’m on holiday abroad, I notice how few people cycle.
But I don’t really think about it. Or that’s special.
We’re born and bred with it.
Everyone has at least one bike.
I think there are more bikes, than people in the Netherlands.
Our morning routine is…
...get dressed, have breakfast.
I take my daughter to school.
As soon as I’ve dropped her off at school…
I cycle on to work.
I cycle pleasantly to work.
It’s always busier here in the centre.
Then there is a stretch along the railway track.
But as soon as I leave the village Oss.
And when I reach the fields it’s so lovely and quiet. I can just let my mind go blank and just cycle.
I use my bike for work.
It’s very important for my job.
I’m an account manager…
working mainly in Amsterdam and The Hague.
Sometimes people think it strange when I arrive by bike…
Because most account managers turn up in a car in a suit with a briefcase.
In a city like Amsterdam that is just not feasible.
It’s so much easier and quicker by bike. And it makes my job so much nicer.
Cycling gives you so much freedom, you’re out in the open.
You’re adaptable, you get to see things. In short, it is just great.
So I don’t really think about it...
and then it just goes naturally.
I just whistle and the melody comes naturally.
I like to whistle on my bike, that’s when I am cheerful.
Maybe? I’ve no idea.
This e-bike now is 2,5 years old…
and it’s done more than 10.000 km.
It’s exercise and my muscles stay supple.
And I think it also broadens your mind, cycling through the countryside.
Especially in this weather, the autumn is a great time to cycle.
I try to keep the bike in the lowest gear so that I have to work harder.
But when there is a slope like a bridge, or there is some wind – I get some support.
But I try to do as much myself as I can do myself because it’s good for my muscles.
And then it’s good for my body.
If I keep it in highest gear, for instance, I travel at 24 km/h.
But I won’t have to do anything myself.
But that is not what I call cycling. You have to put in a bit of effort.
When I cycle to work...
...and I have a meeting at nine, I feel more alert…
...then when I’ve been sitting still in a train or car.
What it comes down to is that I’m more cheerful…
...and better performing in the morning if I take the bike.
It means I have done my exercise, and I get exercise twice a day.
I go to work feeling a lot happier.
Vitality in employees is very important.
If you take the bike to work…
You’ve cleared your mind when you start work…
It lowers stress and it’s just healthier.
It’s been shown that absenteeism is reduced when people go to work by bike.
When I first came to live here…
I noticed the junctions…
where all four traffic lights turn green
I had never seen that before. Once I got used to it…
I noticed that it worked well.
It’s weird because people cross from all directions at the same time.
But somehow if you do it often, you anticipate having to brake or accelerate slightly…
so that you don’t bump into someone. You anticipate and look at the other cyclists.
We don’t actually nod to each other, but it’s more like, okay, I have to brake slightly.
Everyone watches their left and right.
Over the past 1,5 years it has never gone wrong, which I think is quite special.
Well, at first I had training wheels, but I don’t remember how I learned.
My daddy said I could cycle with without training wheels.
I didn’t believe I could do it.
And then I tried and I did it.
Sometimes we just cycle around when the weather is nice.
Sometimes I just go cycling. Just a little ride.
Well she is practicing hard.
She can cycle quite well by herself.
She has to practice her braking.
But she can tour whole stretches on her own…
of the neighborhood. So that’s great.
Obviously I am a little anxious. But she has to learn.
When she’s older she’ll have to cycle to her friends by herself.
So it’s super if she can cycle independently.
I think that in summer we will be able to cross the bridge together.
Then, she can cycle to the centre of Nijmegen.
And we can reward her with an ice-cream.
I have more freedom on my bike.
And I decide where to go and what time I arrive.
And I can leave when I want to.
I take the bike to school parties or to the cinema.
I can decide were I can go to.
My parents never drive me…
Not because my parents are lazy - well my dad sometimes is...
It’s just much nicer to cycle.
We live in a small village so everything is much easier by bike.
You get everywhere much faster.
I take the bike everywhere: to football, to school.
It’s good to burn off energy and you can chat with your friends.
Well, Merel picks me up at home
and then we move on to another friend.
and then on to the Blue Bridge.
That’s the place where almost everyone from the suburb Kloosterveen meets up.
Then we cycle with two other friends who are awaiting us there.
And then we all cycle to school together which is great fun.
Sometimes it’s to much fun and we get the giggles
And we end up being late. But that’s okay because it was fun.
My bike is really my all, because with the boys…
Usually you are occupied in driving your car.
But on a bike you are so much closer to the people.
I have my sons on the front and the back of my bike.
The one in the front is actually to big, but it’s just so much fun
Cycling makes it easier to interact with people, you meet others.
My children are very sociable, they are constantly waving to people...
or calling out and that just makes it easy to chat with people.
You sometimes meet and talk to people you wouldn’t otherwise talk to.
For example an older man in a suit, who normally never would talk to me...
but who smiled at my kids and before I knew it, I stopped and we chatted.
And that led to a more in-depth discussion about current society and the current polarization.
Those are things I can stand here and talk about for half an hour.
My kids begging me to go on now, but it’s so nice to have a connection with someone.
That’s what this mode of transport makes possible. Isn’t that great?
I’ve cycled in Paris and it’s completely different.
Totally different mentality and atmosphere.
Far more demarcated behaviour.
Whereas here in the Netherlands when on a bike and the sun is out…
or the weather is nice, you’re constantly eyeing each other.
In the sense that you’re making contact to say, hey isn’t it great weather today?
So in the Netherlands people are more in touch with their surroundings.
Whereas in Paris everyone just seems concerned with staying upright and not falling over.
It’s so different over here.