Dutch Dames

If a city has the safe infrastructure, does that necessarily lead to bringing out more women on bikes?
Because there’s little off-road routes here in Southern California, is that why there are so few women pedaling to work?

Is there a correlation? I had to see for myself.

Erasmus University in Rotterdam, Netherlands sent me an email invite to an entrepreneur event they were hosting. Would I attend as one of the Champions for their ‘Get In The Ring’ contest? I always play a little hard to get when these invitations appear, usually 2 or 3 times a year, even if I’m delighted to be asked. Yes, they’d cover my travel and hotel; we worked out the terms. I’d even have a personal assistant during the day of the big event. I received much more than I expected as the University folks catered to my every whim. One condition: I must arrive several days early to overcome a lifelong debility known as jet lag. No problem. And assistance with ground transportation? They would meet me at Schiphol airport and accompany me to my hotel in Rotterdam. I couldn’t think of anything else to ask for. I’m in.

Apparently news of my involvement spread and a week later I’m getting other invitations, this time from the State Department, the U.S. Embassy in The Hague. They were having an event, too, the very next night after my appearance in Rotterdam. If I agreed, they would coordinate with my University hosts and extend my travel to include a side trip for this more international event celebrating Global Entrepreneurship Week. I have to admit, this pumped my tires, so to speak and I had a hard time with playing hard to get. But as I see a single speaking gig expanding to two and the trip extend from 4 days to 6, why not add a couple more to spend in Amsterdam observing what many of us think of as Nirvana of bicycling cities. And so my plans were extended and off I headed for a delightful, if exhausting, 8-day trip to the Netherlands.

Need I explain more? I’m an entrepreneur turned angel investor, with a bad case of bicycle advocacy. For 7 years I’ve done audio interviews with the world leaders in early-stage investing, people who make the earliest bets on big tech startups. Glamorous? A little, it’s so risky that my audience has become large and loyal as we all learn of the best practices, so we minimize our losses. Then just 3 years ago I got bitten by my bicycle infatuation. A family member suggested that riding a bike would be more effective that diet as I lamented my physical condition – I took his advice and my world has changed for the better.

Then somewhere along the way, my new bike advocacy friends suggested I do for cycling what I had been doing for angel investing, namely the audio interviews. Wish it had been that obvious to me, so start that I did. I would combine a bicycle interview in the Netherlands with some photos to turn this trip into a mirror of my personal interests. What fun.

But I didn’t know any Dutch bike advocates. I needed help to get connected to the right people. It took me awhile, and now I wonder why, before I asked Carolyn Szczepanski, Director of Communications for the League of American Bicyclists in Washington, D.C. – they’re connected big-time. Stephanie Noll at Oregon’s BTA contributed a lead, too, and in only hours I’m pinging Tom Godefrooij at the Dutch Cycling Embassy in Utrecht. Soon I’d have my second gig at an embassy, I just knew.

Carolyn was a good person to ask, in part because we spent an hour together recently discussing women-on-bikes and the emphasis she’s spear-heading to increase their numbers. Of course by now, we all know of the first Women’s Bicycling Summit in Long Beach in September and then there’s a full day session the day in front of the League’s National Bike Summit in March, Women Bike.

It’s a frequent talking-point: women are outnumbered by men when it comes to counting cyclists. Why? They’re less risk-averse and our present infrastructure on too many road ways across America don’t look safe. After my whirlwind visits to 4 cities in the Netherlands I have seen what safe looks like.

The jet lag seldom has me popping out of bed in the early morning, but Friday towards the end of my trip I had to travel from The Hague to Amsterdam in time to meet a friend at 11am. Budgeting time for the unforeseen delays got me up and out, it turns out, just in time to observe rush hour traffic heading into downtown The Hague. Women, children, babes in arms and men, too, were cruising along almost exclusively off-road paths. Me, I was crawling in a taxi wishing for a bike. The trails were parallel to neighborhoods cleverly camouflaged with thick woods; just a few miles from the train station these commuters were dashing along well protected from traffic and making better time, too.

The Dutch are so striking in their looks – no, not a prejudice; I took a large sample as I people-watched my way across the country. Tall blonds, tall everyone, yet what I don’t notice at first is the trim fitness. When it does dawn on me that I’m not visiting Halifax or Prince Edward Island, Canada as I did just a month ago, or New York City in June, or New Hampshire last spring – it’s the obesity rates – these Dutch are packing many fewer pounds compared to their North American peers. Could this, too, be because of their preferred mode of travel?

Ok, so they’re good looking, tall and fit and due to the much-cooler-than-I’m-used-to temperatures, they all have rosy cheeks, so it’s a day or two before I spot the next anomaly: no helmets. I knew this before I arrived, but this was just an intellectual factoid I read somewhere; to see it in person, well, chalk it up to another stark distinction that world travel is great for. I never saw a single helmet on any bike rider. Since mopeds and motorcycles get to share the bike paths, too; it’s not till I get back to my hotel room and look at the photos that I see, or I don’t see – they’re not wearing helmets either! These are not risk-taking Dutch Dames, as the restrooms all name them, they have safe paths to ride, separated from car traffic and when they must share the road, it’s typically in the inner city where the roads are so narrow that cars must tip toe along, too. Moms and dads were chaffering their young on their bikes, even babes in arms, yet not a single helmet could be found.

Judging, making a value assessment is hard not to do – one society is obviously crazy, with a skewed view of the risks, but which society is that? Americans can be snobs, so I’ve read, and I’m fighting the urge to point out to my friends this fiendish disregard for child safety. Instead I quietly observe.