Bicycle Times 007_p072

WASHyour
FIETS
by Jeff Lockwood
72
Bicycle Times 007
09.01.10
When I started packing my bags and
boxing up bikes for my move to Belgium a
couple of years ago, I had visions I would
be among all sorts of cool Euro-looking
people riding all manner of the most
trendy and hip townie and city bikes out
there. After all, I was moving to a town
where cyclists enjoy right-of-way priority over pedestrians and automobiles.
Dedicated bicycle paths and lanes feature
bike-only traffic signals, just about every
building has arrangements for bicycle
storage and even little old ladies ride their
bikes around town without helmets.
For some reason, since cycling is so
ingrained in life in Belgium, I was sure
my fascination with all things relating to
cycling would be of big interest to people
over here. People would totally dig my
Cars R Coffins t-shirt, they would be excited by the “one less car” sticker on my
Surly 1 x 1 commuter rig and they would
definitely enjoy talking endlessly about
bike geekery…
components,
fashion and cycling attitude.
My romanticized outsider
perspective of
cycling culture
here was galvanized by people’s
fascination with
professional cycling. Be it the
all-holy temple
of cyclocross,
or the Spring
Classics or the
G ra n d To u r s,
bike racing completely captivates just
about everyone in the country. Passion
for bicycle racing transcends class, age
and education.
There are several American (and European, to be fair) companies producing some truly amazing boutique bicycle
componentry that makes each and every
one of us drool. We can’t wait to get this
stuff on our bikes. But it’s not stuff I see
on many, if any, bikes around town in
Belgium. People in town use their bikes
for purely utilitarian purposes. Bicycles
are tools to get people from point A to
point B. Most people in the U.S. also use
a tool to get from point to point, but that
tool almost always involves an internal
combustion engine. Car owners, and I’m
far from innocent on this, often buy nice
things to make their commute more enjoyable and/or more impressive to the
person driving in the next lane. The gap
between what each person drives can be
quite broad.
I’ve seen all sorts of bicycles in Belgium.
Some of them are truly breathtaking, but
the majority of what people pedal around
town would surprise most outsiders. Nobody is impressed with what you’re atop
as you pedal to work. I hear the sound of
dry chains and loose fenders approaching
me well before the old lady without the
helmet rings her bell to get me out of the
way. People here don’t care if you have the
latest internally-geared hub. They don’t
care if you can trackstand at the light for
three minutes. And they certainly wouldn’t
be impressed that you write for a magazine
dedicated to the cycling lifestyle.
Belgium is very close to a cycling uto-
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PHOTOS: JUSTIN STEINER
pia, but does it lose any fascination when
that utopia becomes the everyday? I’m
not saying, in the least, that cycling is
mundane for me. Looking at this way of
life, with cycling so weaved into everyday life, from an American perspective
is definitely romanticized, but it took me
nearly a year and a half to realize there
really isn’t a cycling culture, per se, in
Belgium. But rather, and I’ve written these
words before, cycling is just part of life.
“It’s what people do.”
U
M
C
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Photo by Doug Highland
www.bicycletimesmag.com
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