Ride from Ammerzoden to 's-Hertogenbosch

[@paolagrando5079]

I love the traffic light that you can call and it shows you how many seconds you have to wait to the green light.

[@paolagrando5079]

22:57

[@CrazyCrethon]

As a Canadian I am amazed at the length of time you can ride without stopping. Here you would be stopping every minute or so.

[@sjoerd4154]

In the Netherlands this is just normal haha. We can ride bikes for 2 hours and Don’t need to stop

[@JustEPIC19]

@@sjoerd4154 if you stay out of the urban area's tho. Not in the cities.

[@canadianlady777]

I spent 5 weeks in this area cycling all around everyday...I absolutely loved it...ty.

[@karlijnguijt-kusters8549]

A lot of village children go every day by bike to there high school in the city. That's why you see that towards the city ('s-Hertogenbosch) the bike paths are wider and separated of the main road. All for safety. It's quite normal that children from the age of 12 years old cycle in big groups for 15km. In the morning to school and back home in the afternoon. Thats 30km and a lot of exersice. They don't think it's cool to ware raincoats so a lot of times they sit in the class with wet clothing. 😀

[@steemlenn8797]

The first few minutes are basically the Netherland's version of a suburban stroad. (relativly) fast traffic because the density is so low, but still house access every time. Also nice to see that not every bike lane (or car street) is in pristine condition ;) Albeit still a lot better than in most areas of the world. And what was that building around 18:30? The first half looked like an overgrown bunker, the second like long not used military tank parking lot wall O.o

[@allws9683]

I 'd say you mistake the stroad idea. A stroad would be a higher speed multi-lane road with commercial and residential buildings, with onstreet parking. This is a bidirectional singe lane street with a 30 kmh max speed with speedlowering narrows and speedbumps. As a tight thoroughfare in a small village it is narrow and busy, but not a stroad.

[@steemlenn8797]

@@allws9683 It wasn't meant as a serious comparison. Though I am quite sure it's a through road with 50kmh here (so not a street as defined as a slowed down destination) with constant in/out points, so the point is true. You can't compare it to US stroads because nobody else builds something similar on any regular basis. Just the point of multi-lane roads are something only found in big cities (or highways) here.

[@allws9683]

@@steemlenn8797 at 2:51 you see the end of the 30kmh zone, with a change into a 50kmh two lane road with bikepath. I've been thinking of examples of stroadlike streets in NL. A good example would be the Grotestraat/WierdenseStraat in Nijverdal, a two lane street with a lot of shops and apartments. Before 2013 it was part of the N35 80 kmh State Road between Almelo and Zwolle, with a lot of heavy truck traffic (and accidents). Overall the N35 is an umpleasant road and a lot of people make a highway detour via Apeldoorn. Since 2013 the N35 follows a two lane tunnel along with the railroad and the speed limits at the central part of the Grote Straat are to be lowered to 15kmh, or even a ped/bike zone only.

[@zuur303]

Hm, looks like a sound barrier. Many of them get covered with plants for both an overall better look and as a natural filter for particulate matter.

[@JustEPIC19]

I live here behind that wall there is a waste recycling facility I believe.

[@m.moolhuysen5456]

If you would cross over at the intersection on 21:06 and follow the parallel road named "Orthen", that is on the other side of the main thoroughfare, you will pass through an old neighborhood with many pretty 19th century buildings. After a bike and pedestrian only railroad crossing, it reconnects to the main thoroughfare within 2 km.

[@timvandijknl]

18:25 - On the left hand side is the city's waste disposal site, on the right hand side is a sewage treatment plant. Usually when you ride/drive there the smell is horrible.

[@tripleseis81]

Great ride! There was no need for that taxi at the end to close pass you like that though.

[@dllmrt23]

mgif mentality. he didnt get far :)

[@DavidFraser007]

All I can say is, Bicycles were a great invention.

[@timmit3579]

The great invention was (& is) this great network of "fietspaden" that allow "fietsers" to go about freely without having to interact with vehicular traffic...! ( A major victory for "fietsers" in The Netherlands!!)

[@DavidFraser007]

@@timmit3579 Yes, you are absolutely correct!

[@GreenJimll]

The "bullseyes" painted at several places on the rural roads are interesting - I don't think I've noticed those in videos before (probably me not being very observant as usual). Are they treated as roundabouts (which is what they look like) or just some sort speed hump with people going straight over them (which is what appeared to happen)?

[@LPRD]

If you mean the one at 2:42 for example: they don't appear everywhere but they serve as a visual indicator for an intersection, meant to make traffic slow down before they reach it. Sometimes they can serve as a speed bump but in this case the red area already serves as a speed bump In the vernacular, they're often called 'punaises'. I don't know why

[@hanneken4026]

Those "bullseyes" aren't just painted, they're also raised, very gently sloping. They are a mild form of speed bump, used in 30 km/h areas, to slow cars down at an intersection (as the car tilts sideways a bit, with one wheel going up the slope more than the other) while not hindering bikes who can pass by or over them.

[@ravingcyclist624]

Excellent ride from a historic area. I don't understand the purpose of the "bullseye" circles on the street.

[@MrHenkkkie]

The purpose of the circles is to highlight a junction where road users should yield to the right

[@steemlenn8797]

@@MrHenkkkie Maybe it is soemthing you need to get used to, but I think it's too confusing with small roundabouts. (The ones that are more or less painted/differently paved only because there was not enough space to build one that big trucks can use). Maybe a square would be better.

[@MrHenkkkie]

@@steemlenn8797 Those very small painted roundabouts are very rare in the Netherlands, maybe only 10 in the whole country. The 'punaise' intersection which the circles are called is much more common. Therefore the confusion is pretty much non existent for Dutch people.

[@Reflexzzzz]

In practice it makes people slow down and consider what the hell is happening at the intersection, which means road users will have to look at each other and communicate, it slows everything down making it safe.

[@steemlenn8797]

@@Reflexzzzz They may slow down, but that does not help if all they do is staring in confusion at the circle. That is not safer. If there weren't a circle and a normal right-before-left crossing, it would still mean they would need to slow down and communicate. But the would not be confused.

[@appleslover]

I hate looking at these videos because of the extreme envy and depression I feel afterwards 😞

[@09conrado]

That's how we feel after watching cycling in other countries, but not from envy. We get sick from the depressing surroundings

[@RedbadofFrisia]

Jesus that's brutal, i bike to work everyday in the same area. Not because i like cycling either really, it's just more convenient and healthy.

[@offmana]

When you stopped and then went ahead (28:35) the light was still red - is that only for pedestrians?

[@JustEPIC19]

Yesss

[@BicycleDutch]

Yes, in NL there are three types of lights (motor traffic, cycling, walking) and you should not look at the lights for other types of traffic. When there are no pedestrians detected the lights for pedestrians will not change. The time gained by not giving green to non-present pedestrians is given to the other two types of road users that are present in that cycle. Or the installation goes to the next cycle quicker. You should also not look at the pedestrian light when it is green, but the light for cycling isn't. As a cyclist you may reach a part of the road quicker than on foot, a part of the road that is then not free yet. Or pedestrians are only allowed to reach the central refuge island. What may also be the case is that people approaching you on the same path do have green and you do not. That also has got to do with what part of the road is clear at what moment. Lights are extremely sophisticated in (most parts of) the Netherlands and cater for individual road users.They are not dumb machines that make people wait for no reason when it is quite due to an automated program designed for a busy rush hour.

[@alainterieur4837]

@@BicycleDutch Wow you guys are so lucky! In Switzerland when there is no bike infrastructure (which is more than 90% of the time) you need to wait at traffic lights on the car lanes, and sometimes they got traffic detectors but they can't detect bikes. So you're stuck there, waiting for ages, and then when you decide to go anyway out of frustration, drivers start honking at you and getting aggressive...

[@effyleven]

I notice that the tyre roar of motor traffic is much the same in the Netherlands.... as it is in UK. !!

[@kleoviskena2620]

Beautiful village I live there

[@nullethosechoes]

If not for all the noise, the ride seems pleasant.

[@endahedwin8083]

Always interesting 👍💗

[@TheSnowLeopard]

Looks like an easy trip on a bike, apart from the aggressive taxi driver at the end...

[@juanfran579]

Ik heb niet zo vele Bergen gezien.🤠😀😅

[@RFGfotografie]

Awesome video

[@pauldenhelder]

Wat is ons landje toch mooi als de zon schijnt.

[@coffeepot3123]

Meanwhile rider's in the rest of the world are cycling on roads that makes nekravol look pleasant lmao :-(

[@dorinda4891]

In the UK we would be cycling on that fast road in a little 1m wide painted lane! 🤦‍♀️

[@jokebetweenthetrees]

Over de Hèlse brug ☺️

[@kiek111]

29:02 HALLOO ZIJ GAAT TROUWEN 😂

[@abcx467]

10:03 400 jaar Hugo de Groot!

[@argento8712]

Next time Poederooijense Hoek to Hedel.

[@notlilyspears]

I'm actually surprised to see bikes and pedestrians having to share a path. Or are pedestrians not supposed to be on these streets?

[@hanneken4026]

That is fairly usual for bike paths between towns or villages. There are very few pedestrians walking there, so those that are can share the bike path. If enough people walk there regularly so it becomes a problem, it's likely that a separate footpath will be contemplated (maybe just a dogwalkers' trail, leaving the wheelchair- and pram-users to still use the wider and smoother bike path; there won't be enough of those along such a country road to become a problem). Most people here use bikes for their active travelling if they are going more than 1 or 2 km; going to the next village feels like far enough away to take the bike, even if it's not that far in kilometers, especially if you might perhaps want to carry back some shopping or whatever - Dutch bikes make excellent pack mules. If people want to go for a longer recreational walk there are often less direct footpaths away from the roads, in prettier areas, that are preferred.