I am not one of those people who see work as a burden. Sure, it is called work for a reason. But, all the same, I have been lucky enough to do great jobs with great people around me - and the job I have today is the same. On the other hand some weeks are worse than others. So, at the end of a tough week a few weeks ago I arrived at my apartment (I was still living in a hotel then) hoping to sit down and watch some TV and forget about my many challenges.
As I came through the door I saw that a parcel had been left for me. A book from Amazon no less. As a compulsive reader, a book is always good news to me and so I tore the packaging off to see that my wife had sent me. My gift was, “Breaking the Fat Loss Code” …….
So, I am on a diet, which I hate. On the other hand it does give me the motivation to get on my bicycle and get a bit more exercise and an opportunity to talk about cycling in the Netherlands. Without living here you can’t quite understand how much the bicycle is part of daily life. Dutch people literally grow up on bicycles. In the mornings I can watch the nursery across the street fill up with small children delivered by bicycle. Babies arrive in a contraption that can best be described as a bicycle with a covered wheel barrow on the front. Older children arrive on a small seat in front of the handlebars. Once the kids reach school age they cycle themselves or perhaps be guided there by a mother who might gently push them along as they make their way to school.
They are all safe to do this because they travel along the “fietspad” (cycle path) to their destination. All in all the Netherlands has 20,000 km or cycle paths which are well used and well maintained. In the house where I live outside my front door is a sidewalk, a cycle path, then the road. The cycle paths allow kids to bike to school - something like 95% of Dutch children take their bicycle to school - and many people bike to work. In fact, a very typical Dutch commute is to take bicycle number one from home to train station, train to other station, then bicycle number two to work. As you can imagine this makes for a lot of bicycles parked at train stations. Leiden, where I live, has at the train station multi level bicycle parking with space for hundreds of bicycles.
The cycle paths also connect cities and villages and serve as a good and safe way to get on your bike and get some exercise. A good training ride for me is about 50km which I can do without ever being off a cycle path and on a road. The ride takes me out of Leiden and north east towards Amsterdam. Often I am riding alongside the other, uniquely Dutch, mode of transport - the canal. Along my route there is a moment of when all these modes of transport come perfectly into focus. You know you are in the Netherlands when the cycle path next to the canal is going over the freeway. The Netherlands has to be the only country in the world where you can drive in your car and see a boat (and a pretty sizable boat at that) on the overpass above you.
Today, after close to two weeks of great spring weather it is raining steadily. I will put on my rain jacket and try to get some miles in. It is a requirement if I want to break the fat loss code.
