Cycling Amsterdamsestraatweg, Utrecht, Netherlands

[Teddiehoi]

Yay, the street where i live in. :)

[MsRobinlove]

if i go to school in the netherlands in the winter, i always want with the car , but my parents always says that it is not heathy and rhat i must go on bike! i agree with them but it is always so cold. although i love it in the spring and summer!

[evlsurgeon]

I cannot wait to go.

- syd Australia.

[toldosdavid]

2005 - 2007 mis penas y alegrías esa calle las marco!

[Ikke999]

Ontzettend leuk om de Amsterdamsestraatweg zo maar af te fietsen! Woonden niet ver van de watertoren. Nu vanuit Nieuw Zeeland kan ik het weer doen!! Bedankt voor het initiatief.

[engelsman75]

Your video's are really informative, excellent !!

[julinmorgan]

If only streets were this way here where I live... I can't ride a bike because there are so many hills, i'd have to go up and down lots of time.

[92Fishman92]

I remember that cycle repair shop, I used to go there all the time cause my tire used to go flat cause of broken glass. I remember my dad being pissed but he got a discount cause my dad was a frequent customer and a bargain hunter. If i remember correctly there should be an Edah around the corner from there!

[JoachimderZweite]

The Dutch are so lucky.

[gwelsh123]

lived in utrecht for many years (98-->2005), looks like amsterdamsestraatsweg is a bit cleaner now, good to see

great video, brings back some memories

[themanickin]

Amsterdam is, by far, the most bike friendly city I've ever been to and ridden in. I wish cities in the US would take a similar approach. It would definitely ease tensions between cyclists and motorists.

[summersonset]

I didnt know the Amsterdamsetraatweg was designed by Napoleon. Thats really cool :). I live across the city park (in part 2).

[ty3165]

how do you ride a cicycle if you are stoned though ?

[summersonset]

@ty3165 you can't, you will have to walk holding the bicycle by your side. This also goes when youre drunk :)

[Hals]

@ty3165 All day every day

[happilyjaded]

I stumbled across this by accident and was like "I take this route everyday!" And my next thought - pass those slow people!!!!

[markenlei]

:-) I would have were it not for the camera in one hand and the fact that it is a bit nicer to see other cyclists than an open cycle path.

[stealth1692]

@markenlei if people are cycling the wrong way do you tell them or leave them??

[markenlei]

@stealth1692 Never tell them! The Dutch don't like to be told what they can or cannot do. Even to a police officer they will always reply 'Yeah but...' All Dutch feel equal so nobody tells anybody.

[stealth1692]

@markenlei and if you do im guessing you would upset and offend them am i right

[iswarthere]

Ons land lijkt mooi.

[rOxxiej030]

on 5.49 is my mother in law together with her mother walking to the superstore

hahaha

[itsmefloortje]

Wat ontzettend leuk om dit te zien..ik heb op de Amsterdamsestraatweg gewoond tot 1968 op 5.54 zie je een blauw bord ..het huis met de verhoogde gele stoeprand daar heb ik gewoond nummer 385 we hadden een banketbakkerij...wat is het allemaal veranderd. Ik zelf heb nog heel oude films van Utrecht ( 1950) de grachten, de oude markt waar vroeger het politiebureau was..ja waar blijft de tijd...ik heb genoten.. dank je wel voor deze video.

Floortje

[bshanteau]

At 1:28, you pass a car with its passenger door sticking into the cycle track. Wouldn't you be at risk of being doored if you had been. say, passing other cyclists and riding in the left part of the cycle track at the instant that the door was opened?

[markenlei]

It is not impossible but very unlikely for a number of reasons. The path is so wide that you would not often ride to the far left even when overtaking, a door only barely reaches the path, and it is the passenger side that doesn't open as much as the driver's door would.

It is a lot more likely to be doored when you ride on the road.

[Busfotodotnl]

@markenlei And, in the Netherlands drivers/passengers in cars are used to cyclists. So they look in their mirror before opening the door.

[Dyna18]

Ha ha, niet gedacht dat ik op youtube nog wat geschiedenis zou opsteken.

[occupiedmexico]

This seems nice for cyclists trying to get through Utrecht and to Amsterdam as quickly as possible. Seems to me like late morning on a weekday? Can't tell, but there is so little life on the street, and actually not car or bike traffic. It does not seen to help that in many places the pavements (sidewalk) is narrowed in order that most of street is used for movement.

Sorry, but is it possible that Napoleon did not want to hold on to the Netherlands because he came this way and got bored?

[LikeMindedIncident]

The pavements are not really that narrow but that's how the Dutch live, carrying out everyday tasks on bicycles, quick hop-off into the shop and off again to the next shop. Their culture is great, a healthy outlook and the infrastructre of Holland is second to none. It's like cycle lanes were built from the get-go. It's amazing, you can cycle inter-city away from traffic. With the UK it's too late to catch up. Depends what you're interested in but Holland is far from boring, go see! Great vid!

[dogtags2]

What a lovely video! I wish we could do things like to my city (which is apparently considered the "cycling capital of Canada" *snort*).

And especially nice music too -- what is it?

[markenlei]

The music is by a French composer, roughly of the time this road was first designed. I thought that would be fitting.

You can find it here on YouTube. Put: "Charles Bochsa Nocturne No 1 for Clarinet and Harp" in the search box and you will get to it.

[fishtoes2000]

Thanks for the prompt and thorough response.

I'm thinking of a few places in the Detroit-area where this design could be applied. Perhaps the biggest issue is access management: combining and reducing the number of driveways.

In Michigan we actually removed the mandatory bike path law, but our paths along roads are more like widened sidewalks than the paths in the video.

[markenlei]

If you look at the old pictures (like at 01:01) you will see that the number of drive ways has never changed at all. The room necessary for the cycle paths was obtained by narrowing the lanes slightly, but that is no problem since maximum speed is 50kph (about 30mph) only anyway. Cars at that speed need less space.

[fishtoes2000]

Are these bike paths two-way? Are there similar paths on both sides of the roadway? On streets such as this, do the fast, racer-type cyclists still use the road? Thanks!

[markenlei]

On this particular road there are identical one way cycle paths on both sides of the road. This is indicated by the sign at the beginning of the path. Some cyclists in this movie cycle the wrong way but that is not allowed. Nor is it allowed to cycle on the side walk, but that happens too.

Fast lycra wearing racer-type cyclists are rare in the Netherlands especially in cities, but they have to use the cycle paths as well. Cycle paths are not optional, they are mandatory for all cyclists.

[DavidHembrow]

Good afternoon Mark, great video, I am going to send this to some friends in Cambridge, its just what we talking about at a party a few weeks ago

Thanks.

Judith Hembrow