DUTCH BIKES

The Dutch love their bikes. Love. Them.

I've twice heard this story:
In 1944, when the US and Canadian troops were helping run the Nazis out of Amsterdam, the retreating German infantry troops grabbed all the bikes in the city to help hasten their trek back to the fatherland.

As a result, it took years for the Dutch to get back to the 100% bike ownership they seem to have today. Here's the thing: if you managed to keep your bike, (the Dutch were good at hiding things from Nazis) then you were a true patriot and you had quite a prize: an old bike.

To this day, 95% of the bikes here look like they're at least 40 years old. They even make old looking bikes for the Dutch, and they seem to love it that way.



This is the sidewalk at the beginning of the Netherlands vs. Latvia Euro2004 soccer game on Wednesday. It's like everyone just dropped their bike where they were when the match started.