Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 1,519
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From: Hauraki Plains District, New Zealand
Bikes: Retro Hercules adult tricycle, 1953 Hercules ladies roadster, 1950s Wearwell fixed gear 'Club' pathracer, 1980s Malvern Star 'Super Star', 1980s Healing GTX-105 Arabesque, 1980's Morrison Concorde & etc & etc.......
The Stages of Dutch Bike-Riding Proficiency
I found this on a website and I thought it was really delightful.....
Foreigners who visit Holland are often surprised by the omnipresence of bicycles and the almost deadly acrobatics performed on them. An American woman who lives here found this aspect of Dutch culture hard to master and wrote the following note:
The Stages of Dutch Bike-Riding Proficiency
1. Learning to ride a bicycle at all
2. Learning to ride it in public
3. Learning to ride it in the only part of the country that ISN'T as flat as a pancake (optional, only applicable in Nijmegen or the extreme south of the country)
4. Learning to ride the bicycle in traffic
5. Learning to ride the bike in traffic while being passed by a semi/bus
6. Learning to ride it while carrying groceries/talking on the cellphone and while being passed by a semi/bus
7. Doing two or more of the above activities in the snow/ice
8. Getting to the place where you aren't being passed by little old ladies and children
If you master all eight stages, you'll be as close as is possible to riding your bike like a Dutchman/woman… though don't EVER expect to meet or exceed native cloggies in bicycle riding prowess.
[Christy Beall, 'Adventures in Kikkerland']
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OMNIPOTENS aeterne Deus, qui nos secundum imaginem Tuam plasmasti, et omnia bona, vera, pulchra, praesertim in divina persona Unigeniti Filii Tui Domini nostri Iesu Christi, quaerere iussisti, praesta quaesumus ut, per intercessionem Sancti Isidori, Episcopi et Doctoris, in peregrinationibus per interrete factis et manus oculosque ad quae Tibi sunt placita intendamus et omnes quos convenimus cum caritate ac patientia accipiamus. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.