Going Dutch
When working overseas at US embassies, one of the main concerns the government has is about people who “go native.” That’s why they transfer diplomats around so frequently - they don’t want the folks who represent US interests to get too invested in the areas where they’re living. Well, that’s not a problem when you’re not working for the government and you decide you’re going to live in a different country as a resident because you’re too stupid to know how crazy that is. That said, I’ve found that life is so much easier when you have an embassy running interference for you and resolving everyday life issues like who to get to repair a window or knowing you don’t have to exchange drivers licenses. But I can tell you I now know that embassy living isn’t actually living in the country. When living on your own in another country, you gotta take the good with the bad, and sometimes the bad is not so bad.
Ann and I have finally taken the last steps (we’re not quite through the process yet) to formally land ourselves here in The Netherlands - transfer our driver’s licenses. Unsurprisingly, the rules for doing that in The Netherlands are different than in Portugal. Surprising to us though, is that when you hand in your current license, you don’t get a temporary license (recall, Portugal gave us a temporary paper license - that lasted 6 months and didn’t allow us to drive outside the country). In The Netherlands you have to wait 2 to 4 weeks (they did say it can even be 6 if there are “complications” . . . which, given they’re dealing with Portugal for Ann’s license is why we suspect she’s still waiting) to get the license. Until then you can’t drive.
We did Ann’s license first, in part because I had to get a physical exam (to get a Class C license for the Bimobil) to get mine, so we submitted requests at different times. My exam happened a week or so after Ann turned her license in and then we waited an extra week in hopes that her replacement license would be issued quickly (see comment about Portugal above) so we would have at least one lawful driver. We gave up waiting and I submitted my application - hoping the license arrives before our trip back to the US - before Ann received her license. So what to do for the next unknown number of weeks without a car? Well, you do what the Dutch do, which is ride your bike everywhere!
It didn’t take long after we arrived in The Netherlands to decide we really should get bikes to commute around, just like everyone else here. For the most part, most of our errands are within a few miles of where we live and the bike infrastructure is amazing - though crossing through roundabouts can be a bit unnerving! Wim, our landlord, naturally has a buddy who owns a bike shop so we went to Ter Heerdt Tweewielers in Duiven to see what was available.
We drove over to Duiven in July and spoke with Jasper, the owner’s son, who spent a long time discussing bikes with us. We’d already decided we wanted plain old traditional Dutch-design commuting e-bikes, but really had no clue on how to tell the good from the bad (we can decide on ugly on our own). We eventually decided on the Dutch brand Gazelle (Jasper was also making a strong argument for Trek, the US brand, whose e-bikes are designed by a Dutch team). Unfortunately, Ted Heerdt didn’t have two of the bikes we wanted in-stock, so Jasper went looking around for a couple that met our specs. Two weeks later, they arrived and a week after that, they were delivered to our house.
That was a little over a month ago. Since then we’ve put over 100 miles on the bikes. The first couple of weeks included some practice rides, which helped given I hadn’t ridden a bike since law school - over 20 years ago. It had been almost that long for Ann, so we were both a bit rusty. And since these bikes are heavier than what we had ridden before and you ride much higher on them (in a very relaxed position I might add) than the bikes we’d been used to, the practice was needed. Particularly stopping and starting. It’s slowly becoming more natural, though there are moments when . . . . Fortunately, no accidents yet. After that first couple of rides though, it’s all been about running errands.
And yes, we both have step-through bikes (that’s a fancy way of saying bikes for “damen” i.e. women), which is not an uncommon thing here. Center bars are a pain to deal with, particularly when you have panniers to catch your leg as you swing it over the bike and you have a higher seat position due to the commuting nature of the bike. I’m not as flexible as I used to be and I can see my leg getting stuck on either the pannier or the bicycle seat, with me and the bike falling over. And I can assure you, if I did, Ann would probably burst out laughing, and then rush over to help me up. So step-through bikes they are.
Speaking of panniers, they come in very handy for everyday chores. Since we’ve been technically car-less, we’ve taken trips to go food shopping (weekly if not more), and it’s amazing what can fit in them. To give you an idea, you can place 2 6-packs of San Pelligrino (or beer for that matter) across the bottom of the pannier (I think they’re sized for 6-packs), a 20 pack of eggs lying flat on top of them (eggs here come in 10 or 20 egg packs) and still have room for a bag of food on top!
As for where we’ve gone on our bikes, well, in addition to food shopping we’ve gone to the hardware store, to go clothes shopping (in Didam and in Zevenaar), for a doctor’s appointment, to the Gemeente (municipality) to swap my drivers license, to Duiven to talk with Jasper, to visit a caravan shop in Zevenaar, to the pharmacy to pick up prescriptions, and to the shop in Didam that acts as our local post office. Pretty much anywhere in Didam or Zevenaar is a 5 to 15 minute bike ride away. Not a problem. We’ll even take them to the Plus food store on the far side of Zevenaar just to get the cookies they have there and no where else (and fresh squeezed orange juice).
We do need to be a bit more attentive to the weather patterns though - the weather can change here in a matter of minutes - and to be prepared. We’ve only been sprinkled on once and have managed to miss the downpours (once by only 3 minutes - it started pouring before we’d even put the bikes in the storage room (thank goodness for having a covered car port)). So we need to be a bit more thoughtful before we just hop on the bikes and go. That will certainly be the case once Fall hits and things get quite a bit cooler and wetter. But, we’re learning the ropes and hopefully we can continue our practice of doing local errands on two wheels. It’s certainly better for our health and the environment.
Our bikes are Gazelle Grenoble C8 Connects. As you can see, Ann’s bike has a lovely matte black finish and special brown trim on the seats, the handle bars and the tires. It is definitely a smart looking bike.
It is obviously an electric bike, with a rather substantial battery in the wide main frame of the bike. We’re surprised how long the battery has lasted - we’ve only had to recharge the batteries once so far, and did so with right around 20% of the charge left. The bike has a small (removable) control panel on the handlebars that provides key data about the bike usage (that’s how I know how many miles . . . excuse me, kilometers, we’ve ridden). The “connect” is a wireless feature that, among other things, allows us to communicate with the bike’s system, to set an alarm to ring our phone in case the bike is moved, and allows us to track the bike in case it’s stolen. Which, we’ve been told, is an unfortunately too common occurrence in the Netherlands.
To help prevent theft, the bikes come with a built in lock (that black thing just below and to the right of the rear tire rack has a lever that slides between the spokes of the rear wheel). We also have a heavy chain we use to lock our two bikes together and/or to the ever present bike racks that are everywhere in the Netherlands.
You can also see that the bike really is made for commuting. It has built in lighting, long splash guards, a clear plastic splash/jacket/skirt protector on the rear wheel, chain guards and, of course, a frame mounted rear rack, to which we’ve attached panniers. The bike has 8 speeds in an internal hub shifting system, and the electric bike support has 4 different levels of assist that only operates as you’re pedaling. It is, however, speed limited to something like 25 mph (40 kph), which is more than fast enough for us. And, as you can see, the bike has disc brakes, which are far better and smoother than the old center or side-pull brakes.
Finally, there are some added conveniences. Both the seat post and the front post have small shocks, which is good when riding on brick or cobblestone roads. Also, just inside the left hand grip, located in the same spot the rotating gear shifter is on the right hand, is a bell. A quick twist of your left hand lets people ahead of you know you’re about to pass. And it’s got a nice ring. Last, but definitely not least, is my favorite comfort feature - leather hand grips. This is the first bike that my hands actually like to hold while riding!
Ann and I decided that I’d better get a different colored bike just so we don’t get confused when grabbing bikes (as if the very different seat heights weren’t obvious enough). My glossy cloud grey bike is definitely different. While I like my bike, it lacks that lovely brown-black two-tone that Ann’s bike has. That’s ok, I don’t need to be fancy. I’ll leave the classy look to Ann who wears it better than I do.
Perhaps one of the most enjoyable things about riding this bike is that I don’t feel the urge or the need to be a speed demon. Perhaps it’s the upright riding position instead of the crouched (traditional road bike) or leaning over (mountain bike) position that doesn’t compel me to see how fast I can push it. In any event, that’s a good thing because even though I’m sitting upright, every once in a while I get a real urge to see how fast I can go. One of the good things about commuters here is that few other people ride like a bat out of hell (though the race bike folks do . . . and the young kids seem to nonchalantly whiz by, . . . . and most, but not all, folks ride faster than we do). Most people are riding at a leisurely or business-like pace, which I’m quite coming to like. I certainly arrive at places a lot less sweatier than I did when I rode through town during law school and on warm days I can’t decide if that’s because I’ve been riding or because it’s just warm out..
Most people in the Netherlands don’t wear bicycle helmets, and given the pace of riding that’s understandable. We do (well, me most of the time, Ann all of the time) simply due to our age and safety reasons. There was a recent study done in The Netherlands that reported that most of the bicycle-accident head injuries in The Netherlands (something like 90%) were to riders over 60 years old, with children in their first year of riding making a substantial portion of the remainder. Given the data, we don’t want a minor spill to lead to any major issues (like having to cancel a trip, or something worse). The folks that do wear helmets (other than the racing folks) tend to be . . . older like us or very little children. Face it, I cannot deny my age and the fact I’m not as nimble as I used to be.
However, gauging by the apparent age of some of the people we see riding around town, we’ve got a good 20 or so years left of bike riding to go!
(Update on drivers licenses. We got two letters yesterday from RDW (the Dutch division of motor vehicles). Neither letter said, “Go to the Gemeente to pick up your license.” We called RDW about Ann’s license and, wow, isn’t it surprising that they’re still waiting on a response from the Portugal DMV concerning a question they had about the driver’s license. Shocking, just shocking. As the nice gentleman said, “Portugal is a really beautiful country, but I hate to say it, we find the responsiveness of their government authority leaves a lot to be desired. Contact us again at the end of the month. We’ll follow up with them in 2 weeks if we still don’t hear back from them.” My letter asked a couple of questions (like did I want a class D license - to drive a bus carrying up to 8 people?) and if so, I need another physical from CBR. To that I will sign a waiver saying no. Also, there was a question about my license - given that stupid me swapped my Oregon license (not a “Real ID” license usable for airplane verification soon) for a Real ID license last May - raising the question about it’s validity. Hopefully all my issues can be cleared up with filing some documents this weekend. Long story short - we’ll still be riding our bikes for awhile!)