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A ride to Assen with David Hembrow
David Hembrow was born in the UK and lived there most of his life. David and his wife Judy moved to the Netherlands after being inspired by the amount of cycling they witnessed there. They have organised study tours of the cycling infrastructure since 2006.
This is a 9 min version of the all day tour we had with them that took us from where we where staying in Veehuizen, to outer suburban Kloosterveen, through to central Assen and again onto the outskirts of the town, we rode about 40kms all linked by cycle paths. 40% of all trips are done on a bicycle in Assen, David gave us an insight into how this is achieved.
Awesome video Row and Paulo!
Thanks a lot for making the video. Excellent work.
Thanks David it was a great day! I feel like following your lead and move to Holland…!
Well made and informative. Great vid!
David makes a good point – although I don’t know how well people picked up his point – that there is a lot of (car) traffic in Assen, only, as a cyclist, you’re hardly confronted with them so it only SEEMS as if there are no cars. Likewise, as David said, it’s not so much that the Dutch drivers are more civilised and patient around bikes, it’s that the infrastructure tells drivers (as well as cyclists) what to do. So if the infrastructure tells a driver to give way to cyclists, they give way to cyclists, just as they would stop at a red light; they are obeying the law. And it works for them as well as for the cyclists. Drivers are not in conflict with cyclists, and this works well for both parties.
(getting off my soapbox now *lol*)
This is really a very good video. I have been following David Hembrow’s blog for at least 18 months and it still surprises me. This is great to have him explaining things so well on film.
Thanks Edward it was great to spend time with David in Assen.
The amazing thing is: I can hear David talk all throughout this upload without hearing a lot of background noise made by car, but on my side (house sitting @ a friend’s place on Flinder St, Sydney), I can hear the traffic non-stop!!
Thanks for the very informative and well made video!
That’s one of the best things about bikes…they are so quiet!
Hear, hear re public health returns of cycling infrastructure!
Fantastic video and great to see the amazing infrastructure in action and explained so well. I loved the simultaneous green lights at the busy junction – makes me smile just thinking about it. I think I’m going to sign up the family for Dutch lessons!
Hey Ro,
thanks for the blog and the inspiration wild and windy here xxxxx
Love the Green Lights for bikes