Hello again! A video cycling from the outskirts of Amsterdam to Amstelveen. A lot of noise is picked up by the DJI from the Spinup F12W dynamo for some reason, I need to check the setup, but the video is possibly interesting, I tell of some experiences cycling in NL the past 3 weeks. I cycled 35 km to Amsterdam to buy some Alpen muesli (red package, my 2nd favourite after Kellog's Country store which I can't find in NL any more, Alpen muesli is also hard to find).
After buying the muesli and visiting the centre, on the ride back to Alphen a.d. Rijn, and after experiencing several idiots on e-bikes while riding in Amsterdam, I was thinking about the issue that cycling in NL is not just no longer safe, but also annoying, which is caused by idiots on e-bikes. I will add the list of incidents that happened the last 3 weeks here in text.
The problems are caused by riders on e-bikes who don't want to brake, who don't anticipate, and some are simply dangerous nutters. The latter type of people seem to be attracted to especially e-fat bikes. I had heard that there are a lot of complaints about e-fatbikes/people on them, and I found out the past few weeks that they are indeed a problem. My experiences:
1. woman on e-bike (pedelec) complaining about having to brake because I anticipated a potential problem (guy on bike on a footpath riding with bicycle towards the cycle path, would he just go onto it or wait for me to pass?) for which I went to the left on the cyclepath to make room to prevent a possible collision. This woman didn't anticipate that possibility, obviously.
2. rider on electric fatbike almost collided with me. He was going to a one way street on which I was riding, but he was going the wrong way, which is not so much of a problem in itself except that he was also riding on the wrong side of the road while taking an almost blind corner, so going directly towards me! He and I could just evade.
3. 2nd rider on such an e-fatbike collided with me doing the exact same thing, 3 days ago. He didn't respond to me stating he was going the wrong way, he was only looking as his bike and his hand.
4. woman in Amsterdam on e-bike on a narrow cyclepath complained when I overtook some cyclists that I should indicate overtaking or look back: no I shouldn't, nobody does that. She should anticipate and as it is narrow, ring the bell to indicate wanting to overtake on such a narrow path, and she should slow down to overtake in such cases. I was overtaking because people before me were slowing down. She should have seen it but in any case should have slowed down and rung the bell because of the path being narrow. I reproached her about her idiotic complaining and her idiotic overtake attempt.
5. Waiting at a traffic light, a delivery dude on e-bike behind me suddenly complained that I should look out. WTF? He likely had to brake when I crossed the path, but that means he was going too fast…
6. guy in Amsterdam riding on an e-fatbike was riding on the wrong side of the road trying to be 'funny', to pretend to go collide with me.
All these things were caused by people who are not able to judge situations, not anticipating and blaming others for having to brake, or who are crazy. Having to brake is part of life but they want to be able to go 25 km/h everywhere, which is not possible on most cyclepaths esp. when there are many others cycling.
It was more dangerous and more annoying the past 3 weeks riding about 600 km in NL than the 1600km in 6 weeks in Ukraine… Actually I can add last year in UA too: 600km in 3 weeks in NL was more dangerous than 2600km in Ukraine…
You are supposed to indicate your intention to overtake to riders behind you? Ridiculous! I always ring my bell in indicate my presence to those I am passing (ped or bike) no those behind! Those behind are already aware of my presence.
2 Comments
Hello again! A video cycling from the outskirts of Amsterdam to Amstelveen. A lot of noise is picked up by the DJI from the Spinup F12W dynamo for some reason, I need to check the setup, but the video is possibly interesting, I tell of some experiences cycling in NL the past 3 weeks. I cycled 35 km to Amsterdam to buy some Alpen muesli (red package, my 2nd favourite after Kellog's Country store which I can't find in NL any more, Alpen muesli is also hard to find).
After buying the muesli and visiting the centre, on the ride back to Alphen a.d. Rijn, and after experiencing several idiots on e-bikes while riding in Amsterdam, I was thinking about the issue that cycling in NL is not just no longer safe, but also annoying, which is caused by idiots on e-bikes. I will add the list of incidents that happened the last 3 weeks here in text.
The problems are caused by riders on e-bikes who don't want to brake, who don't anticipate, and some are simply dangerous nutters. The latter type of people seem to be attracted to especially e-fat bikes. I had heard that there are a lot of complaints about e-fatbikes/people on them, and I found out the past few weeks that they are indeed a problem. My experiences:
1. woman on e-bike (pedelec) complaining about having to brake because I anticipated a potential problem (guy on bike on a footpath riding with bicycle towards the cycle path, would he just go onto it or wait for me to pass?) for which I went to the left on the cyclepath to make room to prevent a possible collision. This woman didn't anticipate that possibility, obviously.
2. rider on electric fatbike almost collided with me. He was going to a one way street on which I was riding, but he was going the wrong way, which is not so much of a problem in itself except that he was also riding on the wrong side of the road while taking an almost blind corner, so going directly towards me! He and I could just evade.
3. 2nd rider on such an e-fatbike collided with me doing the exact same thing, 3 days ago. He didn't respond to me stating he was going the wrong way, he was only looking as his bike and his hand.
4. woman in Amsterdam on e-bike on a narrow cyclepath complained when I overtook some cyclists that I should indicate overtaking or look back: no I shouldn't, nobody does that. She should anticipate and as it is narrow, ring the bell to indicate wanting to overtake on such a narrow path, and she should slow down to overtake in such cases. I was overtaking because people before me were slowing down. She should have seen it but in any case should have slowed down and rung the bell because of the path being narrow. I reproached her about her idiotic complaining and her idiotic overtake attempt.
5. Waiting at a traffic light, a delivery dude on e-bike behind me suddenly complained that I should look out. WTF? He likely had to brake when I crossed the path, but that means he was going too fast…
6. guy in Amsterdam riding on an e-fatbike was riding on the wrong side of the road trying to be 'funny', to pretend to go collide with me.
All these things were caused by people who are not able to judge situations, not anticipating and blaming others for having to brake, or who are crazy. Having to brake is part of life but they want to be able to go 25 km/h everywhere, which is not possible on most cyclepaths esp. when there are many others cycling.
It was more dangerous and more annoying the past 3 weeks riding about 600 km in NL than the 1600km in 6 weeks in Ukraine… Actually I can add last year in UA too: 600km in 3 weeks in NL was more dangerous than 2600km in Ukraine…
You are supposed to indicate your intention to overtake to riders behind you? Ridiculous! I always ring my bell in indicate my presence to those I am passing (ped or bike) no those behind! Those behind are already aware of my presence.