Beautiful Bicycles

Bike taxi - though I haven't seen many passengers...

I have never had a collection before, but now I do. I'm collecting pictures of bicycles - with their multi-talented Dutch riders of course.  Send your fine Dutch biking shots my way and I'll post a few highlights.  It turns out it's amazingly hard to capture all those good biking moments - which is why I enlisted Erzo's help.

First, there is the amazing variety of unusual bikes:  The bike taxi, the bakfiets (that bike with a big box on wheels where kids & groceries and much more can fit), and tandem bikes that let the kid go first - these are just a few of the endless options.

The ubiquitous bakfiets.

This newborn baby fits in his/her car seat in the "bakfiets" with room for the big sister.  I love that this "bakfiets" model is the "Gazelle" - nothing could be less appropriate for these heavy but utilitarian bikes.  They do not, even with powerful Dutch legs behind them, move anything like a gazelle.

Then there is the sheer talent of the bike riders.  They can and do ride with no hands,

leaving hands free for all the daily errands:

This also leaves hands free for more social endeavors.

However, only holding hands while biking is legal of the four photos above.  Texting and phoning while biking is not!  Perhaps that's why this woman with the blue hair looks unhappy to get caught by Erzo's quick photographic skills...

This man is walking his dog...

This dog is walking its owner!

And no collection of bikes would be complete without noting the amazing balance involved when shlepping pets, kids, friends and dates around by bike.  With so many bikes in this country, it's funny how often people end up without one, and hitching a ride...

They make it look easy, but you try biking with  an adult hanging off the side!

How far do you think they got before he slumped off?

I wouldn't recommend this...

With that, I'm going to bed for a good night's sleep before another big day of biking!