Gekoloniseerd

Why would u take of on the highest bike gear? Imagine doing that in a manual car. There is a reason for all the different gears 😭

A bell to get people's attention _is_ mandatory but there are no laws that tell you how to use it. Bit like a car horn. You only use it when you need attention to avoid an accident. All other non-functional use is strictly prohibited although the authority in The Netherlands rule in the spirit of the law and not so much by the letter of it like in the US. You don't get fined for every little mistake you make. We don't have to fear our police like in America where you can get shot when you don't do exactly as they tell you to do. ("I thought he was reaching for a gun..." "Oh, well...") Living nice and easy, that's our motto and it's a good one.

My experience with the bike bell: if you have the type that issues an extended loud "drrrring!", you are more likely to startle the target audience than doing anything good. I have been scolded both for NOT using my bell as for using it (mine just does a subdued "ping".) Use the bell when it's obvious that you are not being noticed. In slow traffic I find that a vocal "excuse me" is received better. If people make space for you, a "thank you" is also appreciated.

I am glad that you found the Guildford Arms, one of the places that I love for the variety of real ales.

I think American fishcakes have canned tuna (possibly salmon, if you're fancy), tomato sauce and Ritz crackers (or maybe saltines). I don't eat them, but my mom makes them for my brother.

about the saddle being too high and knees having to be at 90° angles: IMO thats very very personal and depends on what YOU'RE comfortable riding like ❤ for me my saddle needs to be very high and my knees can not bend much. im disabled and have chronic pain, so for me itd be hecc on earth to have my knees go at that angle x) basically do whatever works for you and don't worry too much about what others say. are some ways more efficient? sure! and if thats important to you, ofc go for it. but that's just general advice and will not count for everybody!

There’s no need to ring your bell when overtaking other cyclists, unless there’s not enough room, like on a tow path, or on a narrow path through a meadow or a nature reserve.

How did you bike? I regularly travel between Amsterdam (South) and Utrecht on the bike and I do not recognize much. I have even done the Hilversum (huge) detour a few times. And that sandwich isn't typically Dutch either. Hard to recognize stuff in fisheye anyway.

Dress, athletic socks and shoes - that's some outfit on Heather

I have a small advice about your accident. 2 things. 1. always look through the corner where you wanna go. 2. what you probably learned by now avoid crossing markings while turning, this means also the blue marking in front of the corner. those things get slippery when wet. good luck with your cycling and i hope you come visit us again! 🙂

I wish I could fly this in 2039! Can the seat turn into a fully flat bed?

Oh how much we Dutch people love to watch people from other countrys cycle here😹 this was really fun. Thanks

You cycle on your toes i never knew how that came to be but years of cycling to school will make do the right things eventually

Your mum looks like Jenna marbles. There, I said it

I get the confusion on the roundabout to be honest, there aren't many countries that have completely separated bicycle paths like us Dutch do and especially when it's so close to a 'normal' road I can totally understand how someone who isn't familiar with our style of infrastructure would be like "uhhhh what am I supposed to do here?"

I have had tons and tons of wounds, being Dutch and cycled my whole life and I highly highly recommend to use Purol ointment and cover the wound with it after cleaning. It makes sure no infections will occur and immediately skips to the process of creating new skin without barely a crust. It also removes the pain instantly.

Jam on first. Cream on first is just silly...

Just so you know, having a light on your helmet is illegal, because it makes the situation confusing for the other drivers on the road in the dark. You can wear one on your back + chest

I do love these fantasy adventures in expensive parts of Britain. More please.

I grew up near the area you showed in 15:18. I messed up once there too. Sometimes the infrastructure is not very clear.

Yeah it's a city, but I think they already called you out on that... :) One of the nicest cities though I think! Come to Groningen one time, that is the #1 bike city in the world. Loved the video! LJ

"Listen, I have adhd.." Ah yeah I had a suspicion the cycling-obsession was something neurodivergent lmao

The Stanley Cup was made in Sheffield

I used my Revolut card everywhere in the Netherlands :D

Sooooo we Dutchies would call you a bit of a 'watje' for getting painful knees after biking 50k on a e-bike, something some people do daily and quite a few do on a normal bike just as a casual paddle. But thx for showing of the great bike infrastructure and crappy payment infrastructure we have. Indeed, next time, use the Vecht-route, it's amazing.

An hoa is not a common thing here thank the gods

Living in the center of the Netherlands, I kinda only use my bell if I need to pass someone but they're taking up most or the entire bike path. On a rare occasion I signal with my bell even when i could in theory pass but i feel like giving them a warning anyway because they're walking their dog for example.

The most annoying thing is when initially there's enough space to pass, but the person in front suddenly starts veering a bit too far to the left for your comfort as you approach. Then you ring the bell to warn them, but instead of correcting course they swerve even further while looking over their left shoulder, only for them to then get spooked when spotting you so close and becoming even more unpredictable. At this point you're practically forced to brake pretty hard and ughh it's just the worst.

I came to live in the Netherlands twenty years ago. My problem with cyclists is the lack of respect and care they often have for each other and pedestrians. How many times have I seen bikers suddenly shoot out of a side street or alleyway without either slowing down or looking left or right? Too often. I witnessed a poor teenage girl screaming in pain because another cyclist suddenly came from an alley at speed and crashed right into her bike.

It’s so funny to me, I’m Dutch and obviously I bike a lot and I didn’t know any of the reasons behind the way I bike and all the benefits it has. But now I do, so thank you for this video, otherwise I might have never known

5:43 in dutch i guess you could say "ofniet" for innit

You just made vriendschap with the dutchies

Sheffield is also well known in the straight razor enthusiast crowd as the home of some of the finest blades made! Seems like a lovely and peaceful place to be. "I've noticed everything's red." "Really?"😂

8:45 reason for this is that a lot of stores are still stuck on the mindset of only support Maestro and v-pay (especially smaller ones) instead of mastercard / visa debit.

Spent some time there as an American for a semester abroad in the mid 90s. Loved it.

The comment about foot placement is also applicable to running. People tend to run with a heel strike, while if you look at the sprinters they all run on the ball of the foot.

@ 3:20 you gained me as a subscriber for life

just like every country has its own custums and culture so does it include cycling. the bell thing is not required when pasing people but its more a polite way of warning people your pasing so exidents wont happen. the bell is something difrent from a car horn after all

Worst American werefolf in London reinactmemt ever. 😊

I like how Evan speaks in a faux British accent when talking to Heather....and puts in more of an American accent when talking to 'Mom' 😂

Seriously Evan 'I didn't think the Germans bombed THIS far North' jesus , try Tyneside (& Newcastle) , my area was where the ships were built from the middle ages till Thatcher did the job the Nazis never managed & shut down our shipyards, steel & manufacturing ! Do you think that THE home of shipbuilding may have been of some interest to Hitler ? Think about it son !

Lots of Dutch get really pissed off if you ring your bike bell, even when you should and they are acting irresponsibly.

It's been a while since I was taught so I might be misremembering, but as far as I know, you're spot on. You're supposed to use the bell to alert other people and prevent collisions. Just like a horn/klaxon in a car. If you're close enough that there's a risk of physically hitting the other person, then yes, maybe ring your bell, but if you ring it all the time for simple pessing, it comes across quite rude. By Amsterdam standards, ringing your bell at someone is usually interpeted as "HEY IM BIKING HERE GET OUT OF MY WAY" And to be honest that's usually what it means when I"m rining my bell at tourists. I've also used it to alert people who hadn't noticed a fresh green light. So to summarize, I'd say in Dutch, ringing your bell on a bycicle means "HEY MIND YOUR SURROUNDINGS" How I judge pedal height: when your pedal is at the lowest part of it's rotation, so when it's as close to the ground as it will go, that leg should be fully extended. A lot of the problems that are associated with an incorrectly adjusted seat-height come from the fact that if it's too low, you can't fully extend your leg, and if it's too high, you're forced to over-extend it. The part of the movement where you're extending one leg should feel comfortable and fully extened without either stretching or compressing your knee. Side-note: The healthiest and most efficient position of your saddle is actually a little bit higher than most Dutch people have it set. It's a little harder to reach the ground with your toes if your saddle is set at the 'best' height, which makes people uncomfortable. I've done it for ages so I'm used to it; when my bike is completely stopped and I have to put my foot down to keep the bike upright, i'm used to leaning the entire bike over a little in the direction of my extended leg and to not have my foot entirely flat on the ground; my bike and I basically function as a tripod in this situation. About the 'paying intention in traffic' stuff, I was basically taught the same. "Follow the rules. Assume no-one else knows them."

13:48 Rietveld is actually very famous haha

Local here: Most major cities and provincial hubs, perhaps even all of them, are connected by the type of 'bike-highway' you see in this video. It's quite common for people who live in between big cities, or in smaller city near a bigger city, to commute in to the bigger city by bike, which is usually something like a 30-45 minute trip. Edit: Haha, I paused the video to comment, not knowing it was about to come up. You can see the system I'm describing in action at 10:15 Also, you mentioned how crazy many streets you ran in to that were bike-only; what I think you might've not recognized because you're not used to seeing it is the little 'gate' like setup at 8:32. The central barrier, that metal column thing, can come down to allow cars in when necessary; but the part beyond it is meant to be primarily mixed use for bikes and pedestrians. You tend to see this set up in the busier parts of the centre of towns. If you're, say, a company that delivers to one of the bars or restaurants, or you're a local with a good reason to need a car in that spot, or you're an amublance driver, you get some sort of transmitter I believe that you use to signal the barrier to come down for you. You can actually see it at 8:32; theres a single car parked just beyond the barrier to the left. That probably got in with one of those transmitters/keycards/whatever it is they use ( I don't drive so I don't know the details) As other people have commented: Credit cards aren't common in daily use in the Netherlands. Not all adults even have one. Stuff like Apple Pay and Google Pay are spreading like wildfire though. Debit is your best bet, with stuff like Apple Pay and Google Pay spreading fast, at least in cities. Places accepting cash are still pretty common but getting less and less so and people paying by cash is getting quite rare. Again, at least in the bigger cities, if you go in to smaller towns they might not have made the transition yet. Oh, hey, look, the Rietveld! That's actually a famous (in the Netherlands, at least) fine arts university. If you grow up an artsy kid in Amsterdam, it's the place you want to get in to at 18. And most places have bumpy bike paths here and there, including certain areas of Amsterdam. It happens when a tree is planted in too little soil or not deep enough or something (I'm not an expert), it grows particularly wide roots looking for nutrients and those roots almost break the surface (or every now and then actually break through) of the street.

For someone who doesn't speak Dutch as a first language, your pronuncuation of Utrecht is pretty damn good. It's not 100% perfect but it's so close that any critique would be nitpicking in my opinion :) Or ant-fucking as we say in Dutch. (Mieren-neuken)

At 6:06 you rode over a white/greyish cement grid. That is an underpass for small animals to cross the road and cycling path without having to risk their lives

the round about in the vidioeo at the end is not a functioning round about for cyclists. however there are indeed roundoubouts you should follow right around. The broken line in the middle of the path is the indicator that the path is two way.

Heather is just such a trooper. Take her on all your adventures, for sure.