25th of October~ It's a Joy to Be on a Bike Again!: The 1980s Onward

Text: It’s a joy to be in a bike again!: The 1980s Onward

Author: Pete Jordan

            Pete Jordan is an American – born and raised in San Francisco, California. He became famous for working as a dishwasher for ten years, an experience that he narrates on his book “Dishwasher: One Man's Quest to Wash Dishes in All Fifty States. Jordan moved to Amsterdam in 2002, where he fell in love for the city’s bike culture and history. The text being reviewed here was taken from the chapter 20 of his second book “In the City of Bikes: The Story of the Amsterdam Cyclist”.

(Pete Jordan on his bike near the Rijksmuseum passageway)

Jordan starts this chapter describing the relationship between himself, his son – Ferris - and bikes. He explains that after Ferris became too old to ride in the front of Jordan’s bike he had to install a kid’s seat on the back of his bike. However, Jordan became discontent with this, as he felt that it was bringing to an end his rides with his son – that would now be seating ‘far away’ from him. Frustrated with the separation Jordan is introduced to the solution: the bakfiets. He ends this first part of this chapter narrating his son development into a new Amsterdam cyclist.

(Bakfiests in Amsterdam)

            Next, Jordan narrates how cyclist activists campaigns, usually taken place near to the elections period, were received and how the authorities reacted to them. As a Brazilian, born and raised in Fortaleza – northeast of Brazil - it is interesting to note how seriously cycling is taken in Amsterdam, for in my city it is a recent discussion, while is has been a hot topic for Amsterdamers since 'always'. From this part of the text, what more calls my attention is the irony in the fact that the cyclists in Amsterdam would protest for better traffic conditions for them – being ultimately attended – although they do not obey to some state regulations. Jordan narrates that the state would charge a fee from cyclists caught without lights on their bikes, and that, despite the heavy patrols - which resulted in many bike users being fined – most cyclist would not care to invest in their bike, for there was a big bikes thievery problem happening at the time. To solve this problem, the police implemented new regulations to discourage the commerce of stolen bikes, obtaining a significant success.

(Queen Wilhelmina on her bicycle)

(Queen Juliana on her bicycle)

(Queen Máxima on her bicycle)

(The Duthc Royal Family in 2012)

(The Duthc Royal Family in 1980s)

(The Duthc Royal Family in 1950s)

            In general, the text explains how Amsterdam developed into ‘a city of bikes’. Now, from my personal experience, in what regards my home city – Fortaleza -, as mentioned before, bikes are becoming a more common transport choice. The reasons for that varies from place to place. According to the text, bikes became a national transport for Dutch people, endorsed by Dutch royalty. However, around the world, the reasons are many; healthy lifestyle, wean the pollution levels, improve cities’ traffic, etc. Indifferently, it is important to be aware the changes take time. In order to do a transition from one system to the other many aspects have to be rethink and it is fundamental that people do their claims and be patient.


Pictures of Befores and Afters from Amsterdam (Cycling oriented):