Bicycle(Chain)Reaction
Earlier this year when I was in England my nephew shared a post from a tractor driver... the man claimed that his post was a 'fairly polite' message to cyclists. However it was more of a tirade ridiculing cyclists in general while proclaiming that, in his opinion, the most are assholes! Well, to be honest, I think he said dickheads but I can't be bothered to read it again. Anyway the post will appeal to his friends, family and many other motorized road-users but I doubt if any cyclists will take much notice of an insulting rant by an angry farmer with a massive tractor. Which in a way, is a pity. An increasing amount of all forms of traffic have to share roads that were never intended for them. In the area I was visiting, farmers going about their business have to deal with all sorts of other road-users including inexperienced tourists on bicycles... and locals going into town on E-bikes bikes instead of taking the car. This last should please them, fewer cars means less traffic and hold ups on narrow country lanes but Mr. Tractor-Driver isn't bothered by cars, recreational or otherwise. On a scale of evil cyclists, it seems, are somewhere between Genghis Kahn and Stalin, they are, according to him, the ONLY road- users who cause problems on the roads. Of course this in not true. Beside riding bikes for transport and sport I was also a bike messenger/courier for 15 years, I had some accidents and every working day at least two near misses, few of them however involved other cyclists. There are assholes and dickheads everywhere...and some of them are allowed to drive cars!
Nonetheless there is a large and vocal anti -cyclist feeling in GB... the cyclists get the blame!
You'd think that it would be different in The Netherlands, a country famous for windmills, tulips and especially bicycles. There really are a lot of bicycles and there are certainly more cycle paths and bike lanes but familiarity causes it's own problems. British drivers, as suggested in the Highway Code, will do their best to allow 1½ meters when passing, even if they hate you. Here, in NL, you'll be lucky if you get half a meter!
In spring angry letters and articles start appearing in the newspapers, motorists complaining that they are being terrorised by groups and individuals on racing bikes who take to the roads on Sunday mornings. Now this is the point where I have to point out that the average private car weighs around 1000kg and can travel faster than 150kph, most racing bikes weigh less than 10kg and many of the Sunday cyclists will be doing well if they average 30kph. It's a fairly unequal contest. A motorist claiming to be terrorised by cyclists is a bit like Goliath running home to his mother complaining that David was a big bully! Sure there are some cyclist who get carried away by their Tour de France fantasies but mostly the worst thing that will happen to Sunday drivers is that they will arrive 5 minutes later for tea with grandma.
Oh – and what about those of us who prefer to ride off-
road? Well we're in the bad books too! During the Corona period the Dutch government persuaded people to drive to more remote and less crowded places for
exercise and fresh air. Not a bad idea. Unfortunately these are the places we have
been going for years to avoid clashing with other members of the public. Now the newcomers, family outings, hikers and dog-owners, want us to move over!
Strangely, just down the road, across the Belgian border things are a little different. The ordinary cyclist may not be better off, but cycle racing is deeply embedded in Flemish culture, hard to believe for a foreigner but the myths and legends surrounding Flemish cycle racing are not unlike those of King Arthur and his Round Table: epic struggles, daring deeds, romances, alliances, betrayals and, oh yes, magic potions. The Tour of Flanders, one of the oldest bike races in the world, is officially a national monument. Belgian drivers, who once had the reputation of being the worst in Europe, will often stop for a racing cyclist even when they don't have to and they will do it with a smile and an encouraging wave.
In Belgium, as in many other places in mainland Europe, cycling was traditionally a rural sport. For the talented athlete cycle racing was a way to escape extreme poverty in the countryside. But almost every village café has it's own group of cyclists. You will see them, after their Sunday ride, locals of all ages, shapes and sizes, sitting outside their chosen café, dressed in brightly coloured Lycra, drinking a Trappist beer (or two). A lively, jovial after-party.
Many professional racing cyclists and café-cyclists come from
agricultural backgrounds...
.... many of them have been, are, or will be, tractordrivers.
