Re: The Magical Dutch Bike
When my wife started bike commuting, I did some research on the magical Dutch bike and their riders. Here are the basics:
- 70% of Dutch bicycle commutes are less than 5 miles each way.
- It's flat.
- It's much cooler in the summer - average high in August is 20 Celsius (68 Farenheit).
- The average Dutch commute speed is around 12 miles per hour.
- The Dutch have put a lot of work in putting in bike infrastructure that limits bicycle stops. This increases overall speed average without having to sprint stoplight to stoplight.
Put all that together and you get the magical Dutch bicycle. We don't have that here in the US, so the bike type is not magical.
Sources:
http://www.fietsberaad.nl/library/re...rlands2009.pdf
https://weather-and-climate.com/aver...am,Netherlands