To read the explanatory captions on the video you must view this blog post on a computer and not on a portable device.
The sign says that dogs may
run off their leads here, but must
still be under control
Dog walkers can be a nuisance on cycle paths. Dogs which are not under control can be a danger to cyclists.
Here we have a solution. A dog walking path which is separate from the cycle path. It's also separate from the recreation and sport grounds, and its paid for by the developers of the housing. That's what I call "planning gain".
In the video, our dog, Harry, demonstrates the path...
In the last two weeks I've covered our other two bicycle trailers, the BOB Yak and the Carry Freedom City. Now it's the turn of our largest trailer.
Commercial bike trailers for dogs are available, but our dog trailer was constructed out of an old child trailer that we were given five years or so ago. The plastic "tent" part was well past its prime, and in any case not particularly pleasant for our dog to sit in. Instead of using this, I stripped it back to its frame and...
...made a basket on a plywood base to go on top.
So it stayed until very recently, despite the constant aggravation caused by the inadequately designed hitch mechanism, which tried to clamp onto one of the chain tubes, but would often become loose.
Luckily, such clamp type hitches can be replaced. I used the Chariot hitch.
It's very easy to replace most hitches.
In this case I needed an allen key and a spanner to remove the old hitch.
The same allen key, spanner, nut and bolt now hold the new hitch.
Note that as the "lollipop" was a bit thinner than what came off the trailer, I also needed a bit of shimming here. I found that a slide of narrow inner tube exactly filled the gap in the case of my trailer and hitch, and as the lollipop itself is flexible this is probably rigid enough.
You connect the trailer by sliding the ball into the cast hitch which is attached permanently to the bike by the wheel nut or quick release.
Then you push through the pin and it's held securely by a rubber part.
The customer inspects my work... We then went for a test ride, and another walk in the woods.
The trailer is much more usable with a decent hitch mechanism.
From Friday 9th to Monday 12th of January we are organising a weekend winter warmer cycle tour.
Perhaps you've not used all your holiday days this year ?
It's a chance to come for a short tour in and around Assen in January and see much of what this blog is about over a long weekend ?
The photo at the top was taken on January 13th exactly one year before the weekend. The weather is likely to be quite similar.
Either bring your own bike or take a hire bike. We can arrange that too.
We'll not be riding extreme distances, perhaps no more than 60 km per day depending on the group and the weather, and with plenty of stops at warm cafes and restaurants between views of the countryside, which looks spectacular in the winter.
This is a cycling holiday, of course, but we will also have a programme of activities within a very short cycling distance if the weather is really bad.
This includes a short form of the Study Tour presentation, and some of the infrastructure presented on the Study Tour will also be shown off on this tour.
Cyclists are looked after here. You can expect the cycle paths to remain passable whatever the weather, and for there to still be many cyclists using them in the winter.
All the photos were taken in the 2007/8 winter. There are many things to see in the winter, including the deer which live right in the city of Assen. Would you rather come over later in the year ? Take a look at our other cycle holiday plans later in the year. We will also be running a full Study Tour in May.
I've mentioned before about how pleasant it is to walk the dog by bike.
Today was a beautiful Autumn morning, so Harry and I went for a bike ride together on some of the recreational bike paths near our home and I took some photos and video while we were out.
We rode past spiderwebs covered in dew and through trees, taking care to appreciate the blue sky, which is especially welcome after the rain we've had for a couple of days.
I was of course far from the only person out this morning, and Harry was far from the only dog going for a walk with a bike. The dog on the left was just leaving Assen as we came back into the city.
Where shall we ride tomorrow ? Luckily we have a choice. The many recreational paths provide abundant pleasant places to go on a short ride (and walk) out of the city.
Most people recognise that there are good reasons to try to reduce the proportion of journeys made by driving.
There are many things out there which may may look initially like a good idea to help to achieve this, but most are simply distractions.
One high-tech device that occasionally gets a bit of publicity is the Segway. It travels at the speed of a slow cyclist over a distance that anyone can cover on a bike, and it's expensive. However, it's championed by some as a "breakthrough".
So, what's not to like ?
There's no-where to put any luggage or shopping except in a rucksack or other bag on the person.
There's no way to carry a passenger (either child or adult)
It's slow compared with a bicycle. Just 20 km/h (12.5 mph) maximum speed.
It's very heavy to lift (around 50 kg) if you should need to move it. So forget carrying it onto a train, for instance.
It uses batteries which will at some stage have to be disposed of or recycled.
It is utterly dead in the water if the battery runs out as you're riding it.
It does not promote physical fitness
It costs... HOW MUCH ?
And that cost is of course a complete killer. $5,350 to $6,400 in the US plus another $1600 or so every 2 to 3 years when the battery needs replacing. Are you going to buy one for each of your children to ride to school ?
I've tried the Segway. It's a very neat device, technically clever and as easy to control as its promoters say. I didn't fall of it like George Bush did. I also think the developers did very well to produce it at all. However, that doesn't get over the basic pointlessness of the device. A bicycle is more useful in every way.
Mind you, there's no end to the silly ideas which get a bit of publicity every so often. Some people simply can't get used to the idea that bicycles actually are a really good way of getting about and they'll suggest virtually anything else. The Independent has even recently suggested that cycle lanes should be shared with horses. There are many impracticalities (e.g. are there enough stables should everyone decide to ride a horse ? Who will look after them ? How many injuries will be caused due to people thrown from horses ?) and I can also think of a brown, slippery and very smelly reason why this is a bad idea...
The Guardian writes about Fiat supporting a competition which picked a modified snowboard with handlebars as a good transportation alternative. They suggest that a skateboard would be a better alternative. It sometimes seems anything is to be considered in place of the already existing and proven bicycle.
I've nothing against horses, segways, snowboards, nor the people who ride any of these things. However, they are all examples of distraction technologies. Things that are promoted as ideal forms of transport when they are not, and when the truly practical alternative - the bicycle - is ignored by the British press, even though they're susceptible to reproducing the most preposterous green wash.
Even over emphasis on cycle training is missing the point. The reason that people don't cycle is that cycling feels unsafe. It is also viewed as inconvenient. If you really want to increase the rate of cycling, you need to tackle these problems directly by increasing subjective safety and directness so that people find cycling an attractive means of transport.
Update 2014: This stuff just keeps on coming. There's now a proposal for London to have "Skycycle", a network of cycle-paths built in the sky. This is a proposal for a very sparse network (220 km in total, about the same as the length of cycle-paths in Assen, but London's population is more than 100x as large) which won't go near most homes or most destinations. It's another distraction from what is really needed.
Luckily, it's crazy enough that it'll probably never be built. However, it will waste time, and London really does not have time to waste.
The picture at the top is of another, older, distraction technology: The "Bicycle Railroad". This was a late 19th century idea of a pedal powered monorail, which come back time and time again. This example is in the Velorama bicycle museum.
Many many years ago I read an article written by Mike Burrows which said, to summarise, that if you'd done most things on a bike, and liked to go fast, but never tried racing, then it was worth giving it a go at least once as it's a very amusing thing to do and you'd probably meet some very decent people too. It prompted me to give it a try in 1999 and I found this to be absolutely right. I raced recumbent bikes from then until 2005 with the BHPC in the UK. I'd like to repeat Mike's advice. Try racing. It's fun.
In the UK I raced a Speed Ross bike which was nice and light, but competitive for racing only because of the existence of the "Sports Class" for bikes which were usable on roads as well as on a track.
I sold the Ross before emigrating so I only have one recumbent now, a rather well worn Pashley PDQ. It's a fine touring bike, but it isn't very fast. Mine is fitted with panniers, baskets and multiple sets of lights as I use it for touring.
A couple of weeks ago I was told of an upcoming race in Groningen organised by the NVHPV and the old interest was re-ignited so today I rode the bike the 30 km to Groningen this morning to take part. As expected, there were a bunch of very friendly people at the event and it was a whole lot of fun.
And the results ?
My average speed in the 50 minute race was just over 34 km/h, a result which actually surprised me as it is certainly quicker than I used to ride that bike and not far off the speed I used to ride the Ross. However, over here it's different.
Most of the entrants rode either velomobiles or low racers. There is no "sports class", and nor is one needed, as it's perfectly safe to ride these bikes over here on the cycle paths. They're also very practical machines and many of the owners use them for long commutes, or even for transporting their dog as on the right...
The winner of the race rode his velomobile at an average of 49.6 km/h. It wasn't a delicate machine unpacked from the back of a van, but was ridden to the event. On Monday it'll be used for his commute.
However, in the main race today I was second from last. It got worse in the results from the standing start lap nor the flying start as in both of these events I simply got slower and slower as I'd already used my energy on the first race !
As well as the superior bikes, I think it comes down to something that Eddy Merckx once said to an aspiring cycle racer: "ride your bike, ride your bike, ride your bike". The Dutch do ride their bikes. They do it an awful lot, and they're very quick on them.
Today's competitors were fast. The average speed was over 41 km/h instead of a bit over 33 km/h at the last race on a similar circuit that I took part on in the UK. In that event I finished 19th out of all 55 competitors and was first in sports class. Even at today's speed I'd only have slipped a few places. That's quite a difference. I'm seriously outclassed.
By the time I got back home I'd covered 112 km. All of it was enjoyable, including the ride home with other competitors from Assen at a speed I could keep up with on a newly constructed super smooth cycle path.
Update 30/9/2008
The winner of the race, H@rry Lieben, averaged nearly 50 km/h. He had video cameras on the front and back of his velomobile, and put these two excellent videos on youtube. I'm the guy going slowly with the baskets...
A couple of months ago, Fernando in London bought a basket and support from me to transport his dog, Fosse. Yesterday, Fernando kindly sent me some photos of the two of them taking part in the London Freewheel ride last week.
This was the second year of the Freewheel, and it was wildly successful: 100000 people were attracted to ride their bikes on 12 km of closed roads in the capital.
The success of the event shows just how attractive it is to be able to cycle without having to be constantly concerned about motorised vehicles. It's a good demonstration of how increasing subjective safety results in more people cycling, even if the improvement is just for one day.
Clearly the pent-up demand to cycle that is present in most places also exists in London.
Imagine the rate of cycling that London could achieve every day if the infrastructure in the city was redesigned with emphasis on increasing subjective safety for cyclists so that it was always to the level experienced on the Freewheel.
Fernando's basket is the extra large size that I make for transporting dogs, and it's mounted on a sturdy front rack.
I have another photo of Fernando and Fosse together, accompanied by photos of other people with their dogs on their bikes.
We organise holidays over here in the Netherlands where we always have this degree of subjective safety. We would also be very pleased to have the transport planners from wherever you live visit to take part in a Study Tour so that they can see the result of achieving this.
It's great for the dog too, as they get to go a little faster than a human's walking pace, which is like a snail's pace for a large dog.
Most of all, though, it's pleasant for people as they feel happy enough to do it.
The law seems to think that more than one dog would be difficult to control while cycling. Only one dog at a time is legal. However, I've seen people ride right through the very centre of cities here with two dogs on leads.
It's not just dogs that get to have this fun. The photo on the right shows someone leading a horse.
There's a different attitude to safety on bikes here, brought about by a much higher level of safety for cyclists than in most parts of the world. Both of these photos were taken on the cycle paths which are a large part of the reason for the very high subjective and actual safety.
There are no helmets, no fluorescent clothing, no vehicular cycling. Riding a bike here is safe without those reactions to a hostile environment. I'm not mocking those who adhere to such things presently. They can make sense in context. Back when I lived in the UK I also did all of these at different (or sometimes the same) times. I also used to think it wasn't a good idea to lead a dog by bike...
This Boris has had a little accident. But in
time he will learn how to help vulnerable
members of society.
The photo on the left is of a billboard sign in the Netherlands which reads "Boris still has much to learn".
This is an advertisement for people to adopt a puppy as a way of donating towards training for guide dogs for the blind. In time, this Boris will learn to help vulnerable members of society.
However, there's another Boris who also seems to have much to learn so far as transport policy in London for the vulnerable is concerned. I read this morning that London is not to have a hierarchy of transport users but to just let everyone decide what to do. It's a recipe for chaos.
Cities have been civilized in The Netherlands by design, not just by letting people do what they want. What people think they want depends on the conditions they live in. By not changing those conditions, people will continue to want the same things, continue to behave in the same way.
There is already a good example of this principle in London: London has a much higher percentage of people using public transport than most of the UK because public transport works better in London than in most places. Changing the environment within which people live to make public transport a more useful option increased the number of people who took that option.
Cycling has recently grown a little in London but this happened in large part for less positive reasons (terrorism, recession, cost of other means of transport for people on low incomes). The level of cycling in London now only looks good now in comparison with how it was earlier in London. London is still well behind other European cities, and particularly behind Dutch cities, because cycling in London still only has a positive appeal to the small percentage of people who are relatively easy to attract to cycling. Even they are under pressure, as you can see by observing the amount of safety gear worn. If it is to become a real cycling city, there must be changes in infrastructure that make cycling appeal to all.
We tried to help Boris
Once you have that mass appeal cycling will flourish because people want to do it, not because they are priced out of cars through the congestion charge or scared from public transport due to terrorism.
There were a lot of cows on bikes to be seen on our ride around the countryside today.
These cows know what they're doing. They've got proper bikes with mudguards, chainguards etc. and they're smiling as they go. No special safety gear, either, and the front light is pointing at the ground as so many end up doing. Clearly the painter of these cows knows about bikes.
Nice clogs too.
So, what was this all about ?
There are many cycle rides organised here by many different organisations throughout the year.
A few weeks ago there was the "Boerenfietstocht" or "Farmer's Bike Tour". It wasn't for farmers so much as by farmers to show people all about what goes on in the countryside. So, there were boards up next to fields and farm buildings to give people information about where different things are grown, how long they take to be harvested etc. If you want to show people things like this, how better than to organise a cycle ride and encourage people to ride along and see. It's also a good opportunity to sell refreshments along the way.
Whether barley, potatoes (in this case grown for potato meal), maize or a number of other things, there was a sign telling you what was going on, and why.
All of them had the cycling cow in the corner.
We missed this event this year, but perhaps next year.
We have, however, managed to join in on several other events. The turnout can be large (15000 on the fietsvierdaagse) or a bit smaller, but there are always people going out on their bikes...
I think most English people assume that clogs are just for tourists these days, but they're very practical shoes for people who do physical work as they protect your feet in the same manner as steel toe-caps. Quite a lot of people wear clogs around here.
