I participated in the FOSDEM conference in Brussels this weekend,
and recorded a bike ride from central Brussels to the university.
I used the rental bike service Villo (https://www.villo.be/en/home).
The bikes are pretty robust, but also kind of heavy to pedal, and I
experienced some minor faults in some of them, such as badly tuned
gear selectors and low air pressure in the wheels. Next time I will
probably go for the Lime electric bikes instead. I tried one and
it was better suited for the task.
It was not possible to mount the GoPro to the handle bar on the
rental bike, so I had to use the shoulder strap mount which is
worse for aiming and stability.
I have edited out some of the waiting at red lights to make the
video less boring.
## Biking in Brussels
In parts of the city centre the roads were not planned for biking,
and it was a bit hard to ride since you have to share the space with
cars and busses. But in most areas outside of the centre it was fine,
and there are proper bike lanes.
As always, use good biking gear for safety and visibility.
## FOSDEM
Free and Open source Software Developers’ European Meeting (FOSDEM) is
a non-commercial, volunteer-organized European event centered on free
and open-source software development. It is aimed at developers and
anyone interested in the free and open-source software movement. It
aims to enable developers to meet and to promote the awareness and use
of free and open-source software.
FOSDEM is held annually, usually during the first weekend of
February, at the Campus Solbosch of the Université Libre de
Bruxelles (ULB) in the southeast of Brussels, Belgium.
https://fosdem.org/2025/
## About the video
If you decide to bike in Brussels again, consider exploring the scenic Parc du Cinquantenaire, which is just a short ride from the city center. This large park features beautiful gardens, stunning architecture, and several museums, making it a great spot to take a break and enjoy the surroundings. Additionally, the streets of Ixelles and Saint-Gilles offer a more bike-friendly atmosphere with charming cafés and vibrant street art to discover along the way. Just remember to be cautious in the busier areas and always lock your bike in secure spots!
## Disclaimer
This video was created using automatic video editing and rendering software, and may contain errors. Please report any issues to the video creator.
Video recording was done using a GoPro Hero 9 Black camera in public spaces.
Cars and people in the video are not associated with the video creator, and were not paid to appear in the video, and simply happened to be in the same location as the video creator.
## License
All video content is owned by the video creator, and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
## Software versions
* Episode composer version: 9c1ad5fc7b6436242d930b2a49ef7349b13481b3
* Video renderer version: f55d08be227275a68c1882caba9e3f032c753394
## Tags
#brussels #biking #fosdem #fosdem2025 #bruxelles #bryssel #belgium #belgien