Eurobiking...a start

So, I got myself a bicycle this weekend! It's what's known as a "city bike," which is a 3-speed, sturdy, every-day sort of bicycle that people here in Germany and the Netherlands just ride to do errands, for a little afternoon ride, and so on. It means freedom to me...we only have one car that we trade off on using, and there are times I'd like to go to the local grocery store to pick up a few items, but it's too far to walk and when John's using the car...well, it means I'm stuck. I bought the bicycle from Tanna, a fellow ex-pat, as she hasn't used it in a while, and she will be moving back to the States pretty soon. It fits well, but we'll need to get smaller wheels, as it is a bit of an effort for me with my short legs to get up on the thing. The pedal length and seat height are fine, but the wheels need to be 2 inches shorter in diameter. I can get up on the bicycle if I have one foot on a curb.

The hubby is a bicycling enthusiast, so he not only brought over two bicycles (a street bike and a mountain bike), he started a blog called "Eurobiking Through American Eyes." It's a blog on experiencing bicycling here in Germany and the Netherlands; if you want to know more about European culture vis a vis bicycling, it's a good read and pretty informative. It also has maps.

Me, I'm doing good just to get on a bicycle after years of not going near one. Today, I went for a short ride, not much more than a mile, just to practice getting stable on the thing. Yes, I wobbled a lot, like a newbie. Luckily, the landscape around here is pretty flat, so it didn't take the Herculean effort it would normally take back home in Auburn, WA. Our house in Auburn is on a steep grade, and let's just say it's an effort to walk up it, let alone ride. For me, anyway.

It's easier to bicycle in this part of Europe, in more ways than one. It's not just the flat terrain around here, but there are thousands of miles of dedicated bicycle paths both in the countryside and the city. I have even seen traffic signal lights specifically for the bicycle paths along side the main auto roads, so it's safer. But even in the areas where bicycles and autos share the road, there is a mutual courtesy amongst drivers and bicyclists that ensures more safety than the frankly rude behavior of both in the U.S.

And then there is the bicycle culture itself. Bicycling is a way of life here. Back home, there are three kinds of people who bicycle: those who are in it for the sport, bicycle messengers, and those who can't get any other kind of transportation. If you aren't into bicycling as a sport or as a job (and the messengers are often into it as a sport as well), then chances are good you had a few too many drinks when driving and had your license pulled. You are either in bicycling heaven or bicycling hell--among the blessed or the damned. If you are a heavy middle-aged woman like me, trust me, you will be stared at with suspicion or scorn, sort of the way a heavy woman going into Bally's Fitness gym will be either secretly or outright sneered at for not already looking good in spandex when she first enters the doors. I.e., one of the damned. I've always felt horribly self-conscious riding a bicycle after I hit 40.

In Europe, everyone bicycles. Young, old, thin, fat. Doesn't matter. I've seen white-haired grandmas and grandpas on bicycles riding about just for fun or to go on errands. Kids from toddler age (on bicycles without pedals--they push or walk them with their feet) to teens with their trick bikes. I've seen whole families out for a nice afternoon ride. I've even seen a very heavy woman in shorts bicycling, and nobody cares! It's no different than anyone getting into a car and driving to the grocery store or for a drive out in the countryside. It's just what you do if you want to go shopping or to do some errands.

I do like bicycling, but the terrain and most of all the anti-plump-middle-aged-woman-on-a-bike attitude back home was off-putting to say the very least. But here, there isn't that attitude. My only inhibition is that I'm so out of practice, I'm kind of wobbly on it. That should disappear with a smaller wheel diameter and more outings.

So I went out today and rode a bit on one of the bicycle trails near here, maybe a mile or so. The sun was very bright and warm, and so I was glad when John directed me to the bike trail through the woods, where there was lots of shade. It was beautiful and so peaceful, with birds singing and a slight wind riffling the tree leaves--a real reward for my little effort. Well, it sort of felt like a big effort, because there was still the residual inhibition I had from feeling discouraged from bicycling back in the States, plus I was just not used to it. But once I got on, and we entered the woods, it was quite nice. I'm going to make a point to do this again, and once I get the smaller wheels, I'll make longer trips out to the grocery store, and perhaps even to the Sittard market again. Wish me luck!